Season 5, Episode 06: Olive Oil – The Foundation Of The Mediterranean Diet, with Yonca Tokbaş and Ayşen Gilroy
In this episode of Dia-Logue: The Diapoint Podcast, Pam speaks with Yonca Tokbaş and Ayşen Gilroy about the foundation of the Mediterranean diet: olive oil.
They discuss everything from harvesting to production, storage, and how to use it.
Ayşen Gilroy is a passionate olive oil entrepreneur with a profound love for the Aegean Region’s liquid gold. Her and her family-owned olive oil business journey began with a deep appreciation for olive oil’s rich history, health benefits, and culinary versatility.
Ayşen is also an amazing chef and the creative force behind The Gilroy Cookbook – a guide to beautiful healthy food and entertaining. This was created from her experience as a chef and owner of a boutique cafe.
Yonca Tokbaş’s love of olive trees and olive oil comes from her grandfather who owned olive groves and produced olive oil in the Muğla region in Turkey. The ancient, wise and natural way of communal work for the olive oil business inspired many of her passions and for her to continue this journey.
She started her own olive oil brand and business 10 years ago in her small garden, with just 10 olive trees. Her 2022 olive oil was awarded a gold medal and the 2023 harvest olive oil special series named HOPE has a record level of 1,041 polyphenol.
Ayşen and Yonca are both partner members of Bafa Natural Life Agricultural Production and Marketing Cooperative which was founded in 2019 to bring together the agricultural power and unique ecosystem of the region under the roof of a new-generation production cooperative.
Connect with Ayşen:
Instagram: @thegilroy_s and @thegilroycookbook
Connect with Yonka:
Youtube: @yonkatokbas
Instagram: @4yaprakliyonca
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Ayşen Gilroy is a passionate olive oil entrepreneur with a profound love for the Aegean Region’s liquid gold.
Her and her family-owned olive oil business journey began with a deep appreciation for olive oil’s rich history, health benefits, and culinary versatility.
Ayşen worked as an academic for many years. She was a Professor of English for Academic Purposes for over 3 decades at several universities in Turkey and in the UAE. In 2022, Aysen and her husband, Bryan, founded their olive oil brand called “The Gilroy’s” with a commitment to producing the finest, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil from Memecik olives which are native to the Milas area in Turkey.
Today, their olive oil is celebrated for its impeccable taste and uncompromising quality. Their dedication to excellence was recently recognized when The Gilroy’s was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal at the 16th National Natural Cold Pressed Olive Oil Competition organized by The Friends of Olives Association. This is a testament to the uncompromising quality and exceptional taste of their olive oil.
Ayşen is also a member of the Bodrum Slowfood movement. Slow Food is the world’s largest food movement that started in Italy, but has been embraced by hundreds of countries around the world. The principles of this movement focus on three concepts: good, clean, fair, food.
But that’s not all. Ayşen’s talents extend beyond the olive groves. She’s also a culinary virtuoso, she is an amazing chef and the creative force behind The Gilroy Cookbook – a guide to beautiful healthy food and entertaining. This was created from her experience as a chef and owner of a boutique cafe.
Yonca Tokbaş started her own olive oil brand and business 10 years ago in her small garden, with just 10 olive trees. With a certification in Permaculture Design, she now owns a grove in Şenköy, which is a Turkish village famous for its organic olive groves.
Her 2022 olive oil was awarded a gold medal and the 2023 harvest olive oil special series named HOPE has a record level of 1,041 polyphenol.
Yonca’s love of olive trees and olive oil comes from her grandfather who owned olive groves and produced olive oil in the Muğla region in Turkey. The ancient, wise and natural way of communal work for the olive oil business inspired many of her passions and for her to continue this journey.
Yonca graduated from Lycee Charles De Gaulle in Ankara, Turkey and studied English Language and Literature at Bogazici University in Istanbul. She left her corporate career of 25-years in 2012 to pursue her passions which include writing, running, bees, advocacy and olives. She is a CTI trained co-active coach with a focus on self, emotions and communication, and she is a two-time TedxReset speaker. She was a columnist in Hurriyet NewsPaper in Turkey for over 10 years and now writes independently on her own blog. Her first book was published in 2012 and she’s working on a second book which will be out soon.
Yonca is a marathon runner and ultramarathoner who has run various races throughout Europe as well as ultramarathons like OCC, CCC at the UTMB. She is one of the first 3 Turkish women to run the 256km Lycian Way Ultra Marathon.
She also holds the record for raising the highest amount of funds for the education of children in need in Turkey. She also raised funds to create 3 forests near Izmir and Balikesir.
She is a bee advocate and creator of “Anatolian Bees, Bee Love”, a movement to save the bees. Yonca delivers “Bee Love” workshops and speeches on sustainability, connection with nature, awareness, self sufficiency, and peaceuful activisim.
Ayşen and Yonca are both partner members of Bafa Natural Life Agricultural Production and Marketing Cooperative which was founded in 2019 to bring together the agricultural power and unique ecosystem of the region under the roof of a new-generation production cooperative.
Show Notes and Links
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