Landscapes of olive
Geography is destiny. This often-repeated phrase proves itself on many occasions. More often, I’m inclined to adopt this view to food choices and regional cuisines. Geography surely defines one’s taste preferences. Your taste palate is shaped according to what grows around you. When it comes to olives, I tend to define a person as an olive or non-olive person. If you’re born in an olive tree region, it is in your veins. Olive is your destiny.
The moment I realized this goes back to a spectacular exhibition held in the British Museum back in 2009. Titled “Hadrian: Empire and Conflict,” the exhibition had a profound impact on me. There were multiple reasons that created this impact. First, the head of Hadrian was on display, found in the previous year in Türkiye, at the Roman archaeological site Sagalassos. I once led a project with the Sagalassos team, and I witnessed the unmatched excitement of its inclusion in the exhibition. As curator Thorsten Opper has said, one could even smell the soil on it. But what sent shivers down my spine was the opening scene. It was an olive grove in Spain with olive branches slightly swaying with the breeze of the Mediterranean. That was a scene I could connect with immediately. That olive grove was chosen to indicate the origins of Hadrian in Sevilla, where he started his startling voyage across the Roman Empire as a Spaniard. Hadrian stabilized the Roman Empire in a period when there was an acute military crisis. His legacy was clearly seen in the exhibition that featured artifacts from 11 countries, reflecting the sheer size of Hadrian’s influence across countries. But it was not only his influence that connected all those, but it was also the olive of his native country. I suddenly realized that Hadrian felt at home in Türkiye, or anywhere in the Mediterranean geography, as long as he was in the presence of an olive tree. Olive was his destiny.
Olive diversity
The olive branch stands for peace. It unifies cultures, and it surely unifies the food cultures across the Mediterranean. Being from a country with a vast olive culture, I must say that I find myself easily accommodated in the foodscapes of olive, provided that there is olive oil on the table. Türkiye is one of the world’s leading olive-producing geographies. Hadrian’s native country, Spain, ranks by far first in world production, followed by Italy, then Greece, and Türkiye is usually fourth, depending on the year. However, our real richness is not in quantity but in diversity. Türkiye’s diverse geography, climate, and soil conditions enable the growing of a wide variety of local olive varieties, each with unique characteristics in terms of taste, aroma, and nutritional value, unique to these lands. Moreover, this richness does not only belong to the Aegean and Marmara regions. From Artvin in the Black Sea region on the border with Georgia to provinces such as Mardin, Kilis and Antakya in the southeast, just north of Syria, there are outstanding olive types not known elsewhere. The whole Aegean region is like an olive grove sea, a thick belt of olive landscapes stretching from the Sea of Marmara down to the Mediterranean. There are about 100 registered olive varieties in the country, most only locally known. Either cured as a table olive or pressed for olive oil, the flavor profiles of these not-yet-discovered olives might have a special place on chefs' tables.
Despite such diversity, it is debatable whether we know the value of our olives. Luckily, in recent years, the local olive varieties have gained the attention of chefs. We are now talking about the need for every chef to have a palette of olive oils at their disposal. For example, in Od Urla, chef Osman Sezener has created an olive oil menu, offering his guests a selection of different olive oils from various producers so that they can smell the aroma and make appropriate food pairings. In the near future, just like the grape variety in wines, we’ll be looking for the olive variety in bottles. The details regarding the production will be scrutinized, such as the growing region, harvest time and even pressing technique. It can easily be predicted that the future olive oil bottle will be beyond the standard EVOO, but much more complicated. Increasing this olive variety awareness is an important step for the preservation of olive diversity.
Good olive news
We also have good news from the Turkish olive world. Recently, Aydın’s Memecik olive has been registered by the European Union. Previously, 11 olive varieties and olive oils from Türkiye received EU registration. Türkiye’s application to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List for “Traditional Knowledge, Methods and Practices Concerning Olive Cultivation in Türkiye” was approved, and our olive cultivation culture was registered in the list as “In Need of Urgent Safeguarding” calling for a study that will cover all the olive growing regions of the country.
On the other hand, the European Union-funded Anatolivar project has completed its first year. The project, whose full title is “Strengthening Civil Society Capacities to Support Olive Producer Communities in Türkiye towards Achieving the Goals of the European Green Deal,” pretty much describes its main goals in its title. Carried out by the Proje Evi Cooperative in cooperation with SlowOlive under the umbrella of the Slow Food Organization in Italy and UZZK-National Olive and Olive Oil Council, the project also tackles the effects of climate change on landscapes of olive. “Zeytin Postası/The Olive Post” which reflects the first year’s work has published its first issue, and at the end of the three-year project, their survey across the country will be published in a profound document “Türkiye Olive Atlas and Guide” serving as an ultimate reference to olive geographies in the country.
There is also good news from producers. In the award scene, the good news was from Ayvalık-based artisanal olive oil producer Nova Vera. They had previously received multiple awards with their distinct olive oils, but now they are ranked as the top 100 societies in the world. The EVOO World Ranking platform determines the best olive oils and producers based on the results of 35 different olive oil competitions organized throughout the year with the participation of many producers from many countries, so winning first place in the total scoring of international competitions held in 28 countries is a big achievement for Turkish olive oil. Another good news is from the sustainable agriculture scene. Sevilma Olive Garden in İzmir in the village of Orhanlı in Seferihisar has been registered as Türkiye’s first Slow Food Farm, becoming one of the 25 Slow Food Farms in the world and setting a global example for agricultural production in harmony with nature.
Finally, the studies of “The İzmir World Olive Gene Bank” require a mention, which harbors the genetic material of 464 olive varieties, 364 from around the world and 100 from Türkiye. A recent announcement was that over the past 15 years, 14 new cultivars have been officially registered and incorporated into the national variety list. Ranked as the third-largest olive gene repository worldwide, following Spain’s Córdoba and Morocco’s Marrakesh, the institution solidifies Türkiye’s role in global olive biodiversity conservation. After all, we belong to the landscapes of olive and must do our part to sustain this heritage that runs in Hadrian’s veins.
