Alex, a native food enthusiast and skilled chef from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, runs a restaurant called Alessandro Mediterranean, which offers a wide array of delectable Mediterranean dishes.

Driven by his passion for European cuisine, Alex has also established a European gourmet food store.

This store specializes in various European food products and tableware, with a particular emphasis on Italian cuisine. It aims to bring authentic European flavors to its customers by providing high-quality ingredients, handcrafted products, and elegant silverware, creating a unique dining experience.

Alex honed his skills in this area as a professional olive oil taster by completing his training in ONAOO in 2018. He also serves as a trainer for the Specialty Coffee Association.

With these skills, he ensures that customers receive the finest products and services. To help customers understand European culinary culture better, Alex’s store regularly hosts cooking and coffee classes and wine-tasting events.

These activities allow customers to learn how to create authentic European dishes hands-on and bring the Italian lifestyle to their homes.

I completed my training in O.N.A.O.O. in 2018. Through my work as purchasing director of Mediterranean products, I was also responsible for the olive oil category. Being Dutch, I knew very little about it and luckily I found the training in Imperia and I can safely say it changed my life.

After 12 years I quit my job as purchasing director and continued in the world of olive oil. By now I had also done the Sommelier training in New York as well as the Master Miller training in Jaen, Enough baggage to ask the Ministry to nominate me as a panel leader at the European Union.

In between, I wrote the book “Olive Oil” and this has been translated into English, French and German and still my book brings olive oil lovers the idea to follow in my footsteps and we will meet again in Imperia. O.N.A.O.O. is one big family! Meanwhile, I founded the Olive Oil Institute and the Netherlands has an IOC certified panel consisting of 15 panel members, most of them trained by O.N.A.O.O.

In addition to a panel, the Olive Oil Institute has an electronic nose so that tests can be done not only subjectively but also objectively.

Several universities are also looking for such a method and we expect that this combination will improve quality overall. However, the panel will always exist because how good is good or how bad is bad, that remains a human judgment.

Emmanuelle Dechelette is born and grows in Paris (France). In 2017 she graduated as Olive Oil Sommelier at the International Culinary Center in New York.

A specialist in olive oil from both hemispheres, she is the author of “EXTRA VIERGE”, a world tour of olive oil published by DUNOD in 2018 which includes also Chef’s recipes.

Emmanuelle Dechelette is the creator of the “OLIO NUOVO DAYS” which she has been organizing since 2016; it’s a Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil tour and competition set in Paris; in 2015 she introduced the new harvest of Northern Hemisphere and in 2019 she introduced also Southern Hemisphere.

The aim is to gather Chefs and olive oil producers from all over the world. She is also communication expert in food and olive oil. Emmanuelle is part of the jury of Concours General Agricole in Paris.

From 2017 she is Member of ONAOO and she also started her educational path. On January 2020 she obtained the Qualification of Professional Taster of ONAOO.