The concept behind Olivaverde is a simple one, it is to promote artisan extra virgin olive oil producers in the lesser known regions of Italy, Sicily, Greece and Spain and on the Island of Malta, also producers in other parts of the Mediterranean region in countries not normally associated by consumers with olive oil production. We now have many good friends among these dedicated small farmers and producers and they all share a passion about their products and the areas of Italy and the Mediterranean region where they live and work, with all of them making wonderful extra virgin olive oils typical of their region and country. Most if not all of the olive oils we promote are not available outside the immediate part of the country or region where they are made and many are only sold and used within an area of a few kilometres of where they are produced.

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The original idea for Olivaverde came about as a result of meeting many excellent small producers and farmers over many years, and because of their hard work and enthusiasm I now wanted to help them get their message about how fine olive oils should be sought out and used. These fine extra virgin olive oils should be bought and used by the public where possible instead of them only purchasing mass produced oils from supermarkets, many with highly misleading provenance. This fits in perfectly with our involvement and membership of the Slow Food organisation in both the Mediterranean region and also in the UK, whose ethos and aims are the promotion of good, healthy, sustainable food to the general public. Members and groups of the Malta based Slow Food Mediterranean and Slow Food in the UK carry this out by holding festivals and events in cooperation with educational bodies together with promotional food events and workshops throughout the country.

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Our love for Italy, its people, culture and food started as a small child when part of my family moved to Malta and we used to visit the Sicilian mainland on trips and explore both the countryside and also cities such as Palermo and Catania. Since those visits to Sicily we have revisited many of the lesser known regions of Italy and in that time have developed a love of Italy, the Italian people, their food and culture, a large part of this being a real passion for fine extra virgin olive oils. In Italy and also in Malta there are many olive oil festivals each October and November and we hope that this type of event will also become available in the UK at some point as knowledge of good olive oils is still really not widely available outside of oil producing countries.

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All the artisan olive oil producers whom I am associated with are all immensely proud of their extra virgin olive oils, jams, cheeses, salami and pasta, and they all want their produce to become available and appreciated by consumers outside of their particular area of Italy.

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I am very fortunate with Olivaverde to be able to help them promote and sell their produce in the UK and Ireland, and always pleased that this is proving very popular with consumers in London, the Home counties surrounding London, and in the east of England in cities such as Cambridge and Norwich.

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