Greek Olive Oil News Site Lacks Funding to Continue

Press release

The only wide-ranging English-language website focused on Greek olive oil news has stopped providing up-to-date information about the Greek olive oil world due to insufficient funding. With 224 original articles, the Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil website (greekliquidgold.com) reached consumers in 197 countries, especially the USA.

Approximately 150 articles from the unofficially nonprofit site were republished by other news outlets in the USA, Australia, Canada, Greece, Spain, and other countries. This created an even broader audience for news and information about the high quality and health benefits of Greek extra virgin olive oil, as well as stories, recipes, photos, and agrotourism and food tourism suggestions from Greece.

For over three years, the only online source of in-depth English-language information from and about the Greek olive oil sector that extends beyond one topic or company shared the successes of the people who make, bottle, and export this national treasure. For example, greekliquidgold.com told the stories of a ship captain who gave up his vessel to return to his family olive groves; Greek teachers, linguists, a lawyer, and other professionals 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.

Greekliquidgold.com has been praised by Greek and American embassies and consulates and Greek olive oil sector professionals, and awarded twice by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities. North American Olive Oil Association executive director Joseph R. Profaci claims that “Greek Liquid Gold is one of my few go-to sources for accurate news and information about olive oil.”

In recent months, greekliquidgold.com has featured articles on Greek olive oil tourism, Greeks’ responses to new American tariffs, expectations for the Greek olive harvest, Greek successes at international olive oil competitions, a compound found in olive oil that fights breast cancer relapse, and how to buy and store olive oil. 

Greece produces the third largest quantity of olive oil in the world, with a larger percentage of extra virgin than anywhere else. Yet before greekliquidgold.com was launched in 2016, Anglophones like Lisa Radinovsky had a hard time finding reliable, up-to-date information from the Greek olive oil sector. Covering the sector for Olive Oil Times starting in 2015, Radinovsky discovered that she needed to get all her news first-hand from Greek olive oil producers, bottlers, marketers, exporters, and judges. Living in Crete with her Greek husband since 2002, she was able to do that. But most non-Greeks are not.

A former English professor concerned that too few consumers outside Greece were aware of the quality of the country’s liquid gold and the stories behind it, Radinovsky decided to share what she had learned with the general public, first on a Facebook page, and then on a website she created with technical help from Twin Net Information Systems. With Greek olive oil losing its market share in various countries, Radinovsky strove to help Greece catch up with competitors such as Italy and Spain in reaching out to consumers worldwide.  

Work on greekliquidgold.com, which does not sell olive oil, was funded mainly by Greek olive oil companies’ advertisements on the site, supplemented by contributions from a few import companies outside Greece. While Radinovsky’s full-time writing and promotional work was appreciated, the great challenges and low profit margin in the Greek olive oil business meant sponsors’ contributions tended to be limited. She had hoped more expatriate Greeks would support her work.

After a one and a half month effort to increase financial support returned insufficient results, Radinovsky decided that this one-person project was unsustainable for a writer unable to continue offering extensive volunteer work. Fundraising efforts stole too much writing time, and a lack of funds for visits to olive oil producers and events in various parts of Greece limited the scope of coverage.

Since Radinovsky believes no one else attempts to cover news from the entire Greek olive oil sector in English on a regular basis, she deeply regrets that her years of work on behalf of the Greeks who work with olive oil have ended. International consumers will again lack a readily accessible, up-to-date information source for a product that has been central to Greek culture, cuisine, history, and economy for millennia.

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Sponsors and advertisers who were committed to supporting greekliquidgold.com in 2020, if the site continued with updates:

The Region of Crete, GreekBioStore, OleaJuice, Levantes Farm, Liokareas, Hellenic Agricultural Enterprises, Trace Analysis and Mass Spectrometry Group at the University of Athens Department of Chemistry, the Greek Olive Estate, Athena International Olive Oil Competition, Yanni’s Olive Grove, Anoskeli, Terra Creta, Golden Tree, Anopaea Organic Estate, Artemisia Estates, Oliorama, Loutraki Oil Company, Exploring Greece, PJ Kabos, Olive Poem, Carter Imports, Agrovim, Stalia, Energaea, St. Elias, Armonia International Olive Oil Competition, Gaia Vitality, Elenianna, the Organoleptic Laboratory of the Agricultural Cooperative of Rethymno, the World Olive Center for Health  

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: 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.