Window on Greek Olive Oil World Celebrates 3rd Anniversary

Greece produces the 3rd largest quantity of olive oil in the world. This small country has about 157,000,000 olive trees owned by 600,000 families, plus 2,000 olive mills. Yet it has just one wide-ranging English-language website focused on its olive oil and the people who create it--Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (greekliquidgold.com).

Olive oil has been central to Greek life since ancient times, crucial to its cuisine, culture, and economy. Homer called it a liquid gold, and the mythical goddess Athena provided ancient Athenians with the first olive tree, thus becoming the namesake of their city. Today, olive oil remains essential to the Mediterranean diet lauded as the “Best Diet Overall” by US News and World Report. However, even a few years ago, it was very difficult for non-Greek consumers to find out about the people working in the Greek olive oil sector and the excellent extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) they produce.

In August 2016, that changed: greekliquidgold.com was launched by Lisa Radinovsky, an American professor of English who had been living in Crete with her Greek husband for 13 years, learning and writing about the Greek olive oil sector for 1 ½. She decided it was time to share the intriguing facts and stories she had encountered: evidence that olive oil can help fight cancer, heart disease, inflammation, and dementia; a new type of olive oil competition in ancient Olympia focused on such impressive health benefits; ways to taste and use olive oil; a ship captain who gave up his vessel to return to his family olive groves; and much more.

Now, greekliquidgold.com has reached readers in 192 countries worldwide. More than 200 original articles provide news, information, recipes, and agrotourism and food tourism suggestions, offering something for everyone—cooks, foodies, tourists, and curious consumers as well as olive oil aficionados. Greek Liquid Gold articles republished by American, Australian, Greek, and international publications include the stories of Greek teachers, linguists, a lawyer, and others who turned to the olive oil business; Greeks’ responses to people who believe the best olive oil comes from Italy or Spain; and a 510 euro bottle of olive oil from an ancient olive tree.

On the island of Crete in Greece, home of that ancient olive tree, greekliquidgold.com received an award from the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities for its promotion of the culture of the olive and olive oil’s health benefits. Across the Atlantic, the executive director of the North American Olive Oil Association, Joseph R. Profaci, says “Greek Liquid Gold is one of my few go-to sources for accurate news and information about olive oil.” Profaci is one of the international olive oil industry experts interviewed by Greek Liquid Gold, most recently regarding the possibility of US tariffs on European olive oil. 

Emmanouil Karpadakis, export manager at Terra Creta and vice president of the Exporters’ Association of Crete, considers Greek Liquid Gold “a great source of information about high quality Greek extra virgin olive oil in English. With Greek Liquid Gold, more readers around the globe are able to understand the special characteristics of Greek varieties, the particularities of the Greek olive oil sector, the wonderful Greek olive oil brands that are available on the international market, and how to best use a great Greek EVOO with different dishes to get the most out of the Mediterranean diet.”

Maria Katsetos of Loutraki Oil Company recommends greekliquidgold.com as “the place to go to learn about the many facets of olive oil and its production and the health benefits of this amazing liquid gold!” Evi Psounou Prodromou of Yanni’s Olive Grove reports that the Greek Liquid Gold website and Facebook page serve as her family’s “‘daily newspaper,’ because through them, we read about everything new in the EVOO business.” For Prodromou, the website is also “like ‘an open window’ for all Greek EVOO producers” to reach out all over the world “to share our news and achievements with people who love EVOO.”

As a renaissance in Greek olive oil production begins to parallel the resurgence that has already brought international attention to Greek winemaking, greekliquidgold.com chronicles the international successes of increasing numbers of Greek producers who invest in the education, innovation, technology, and painstaking effort required to make some of the world’s best extra virgin olive oils. Greek Liquid Gold will continue to explore the exciting new horizons opening up for Greek olive oil, connecting its readers with the stories of the land and the people who cultivate olives in Greece.
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This is a press release that may be freely copied and republished without additional permission, along with the photos that appear with it. For more information about greekliquidgold.com, see About Us on the site’s bottom menu or contact info@greekliquidgold.com. To learn about sponsorship opportunities, see Advertise.

Press Release: World’s First Greek Olive Oil Info Site in English Celebrates 1st Birthday

American consumers worry about the high price of Italian olive oil. Greeks continue to struggle with economic difficulties eight years into a crisis. And the Greek olive oil that could help support both a Greek recovery and reasonable olive oil prices does not get the international attention it needs. For the past year, an American living in Crete has been trying to change that with the world’s first independent English-language website focused on Greek olive oil, Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (www.greekliquidgold.com).

In the past two years, Lisa Radinovsky has conversed with a Greek ship captain turned olive farmer, an Italian computer programmer who produces olive oil in Greece, an ancient Greek teacher who sells olive oil with edible gold flakes in the Middle East, and dozens of other Greeks in the olive oil industry. And she has shared their stories on her website.

Radinovsky’s olive oil education began when she started writing for the online American publication Olive Oil Times. She soon came to believe that Greek olive oil producers and exporters were not getting the credit they deserved for their efforts to produce high quality, healthy olive oil—a higher percentage of extra virgin than any other country.  

A former English professor accustomed to sharing what she learned, Radinovsky decided to create the outlet for Greek olive oil news and information that did not yet exist. She included sections on the health benefits of olive oil and the Mediterranean diet and added photos, recipes, and agrotourism and culinary tourism suggestions to appeal to a broad readership. She teamed up with another Princeton alum, Dimitris Doukas of Twin Net Information Systems Ltd. in Athens, to create this new website.

In the first year since the website’s launch, Radinovsky has published over 100 original, in-depth articles on it, and a number of them have been republished in Australia, Greece, the USA, Spain, and Italy. She has covered such topics as olive oil prices, predictions for olive oil production, olive mill visits, types of olive oil, the history of olive oil in Greece, and Greek olive oil companies’ innovations, support for Alzheimer’s research, and awards.

Radinovsky has gained the attention and support of the major Greek olive oil industry organizations, multi-award winning Greek olive oil companies, and numerous experts in the olive oil world, publishing interview-based articles as part of her original reporting. After just one year, the website has readers in 131 countries, while its companion Facebook page has more than 1,000 followers.

Radinovsky reports that Greek olive oil producers, marketers, exporters, and tasters have thanked her for “providing a new way for them to reach out to the world and share their voices, so they have more chances to share their products.” For example, Evi Psounou Prodomou of Yanni’s Olive Grove believes Greek Liquid Gold “is an accurate and independent website” that “gives an equal chance to anyone in the EVOO business.” James Panagiotopoulos of PJ KABOS considers Greek Liquid Gold “a great, reliable source to find any information one can imagine about Greek olive oil.”  

Evgenia Andriopoulou of Makaria Terra explains that “Greek Liquid Gold provides an integrated platform for the promotion of the qualities of the best Greek olive oils. It certainly fills a gap. Despite the fact that there is a clear attempt to promote Greek olive oils, the articles and posts remain completely fair. All is based on facts, and this is good not only for the site and its development, but for the overall promotion and the preservation/improvement of the integrity of quality Greek olive oil.” 

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Note: this press release may be freely published as long as a live link to the site discussed, www.greekliquidgold.com, is included. For more information, please contact info@greekliquidgold.com.

Press Release: New in English – A Website All About Greek Olive Oil

Chania, Crete, Greece. 

[This article may be republished without requesting permission.]

Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (A New Website)

As Italian restaurants donate income from pasta dishes to earthquake victims, an American living in Crete launched a website about Greek olive oil that features recipes, photos, information, and news. Offering original renditions of Greek recipes while highlighting the latest disclosures on olive oil’s health benefits alongside stories about olive oil production and use and culinary tourism, Lisa Radinovsky aims to help the ailing Greek economy.  

Radinovsky, an English professor turned writer and photographer, has teamed up with Dimitris Doukas, a Princeton-educated Greek computer scientist, and his team at Twin Net Information Systems Ltd. in Athens to create a new website all about Greek olive oils, greekliquidgold.com. Seeking to inform consumers, cooks, tourists, buyers, and importers worldwide about the quality and health benefits of Greek extra virgin olive oil, they hope to help increase demand for it. 

Researching and writing about Greek olive oil business news for the online publication Olive Oil Times, Radinovsky searched in vain for a comprehensive, up-to-date English-language source on her topic. Struck by Greeks’ use of olive oil in almost everything they cook or bake and impressed by Greeks’ efforts to produce, market, and export a high quality product in the midst of an economic crisis, she decided to create the information source she couldn’t find.

Launched in August, greekliquidgold.com features recipes and photos from Greece, information about olive oil, its production process, the Mediterranean diet, agrotourism and culinary tourism, and the latest news on Greek olive oil—something for everyone with an interest in Greece, cooking, healthy eating, or olive oil. Aris Kefalogiannis, CEO of Gaea, one of the major exporters of bottled Greek extra virgin olive oil worldwide, called the Greek Liquid Gold website “an excellent source of information and news on Greek extra virgin olive oil.”

The new site features original recipes from Greece as well as links to a variety of other recipes using olive oil and hints about cooking and baking with it. It includes a description of an olive oil tasting class, photo essays featuring Cretan olive groves and a botanical park, and stories about a Cretan sea captain turned olive farmer and a Greek-born Italian computer programmer who produced some of the best Greek olive oil of the year, to the surprise of his Italian compatriots.

Living in Crete for nearly 14 years, Radinovsky has learned from cooks, olive oil producers, and industry leaders throughout Greece. Moved by the “many dedicated farmers, exporters, and marketers who are striving for excellence against the odds,” she intends to bring their olive oils to the attention of those searching for both a good, healthy functional food and a way to help the Greek economy get back on its feet. Greek professor and olive oil researcher Dr. Prokopios Magiatis agrees that “olive oil is a main factor that can help Greece exit the crisis.”

With 80% of Greek olive oil belonging to the highest category, extra virgin, and Greece the third largest olive oil producer in the world, the National Bank of Greece estimates that Greek olive oil could bring in an additional 250 million euros annually if more were bottled and branded in Greece before export. Now, 70% of exported Greek olive oil is sent to Italy in bulk and blended with olive oils from various countries. Greek Liquid Gold highlights the Greek producers and exporters striving to change that as they look to foreign markets for a way out of the economic crisis.