Place and Space in Yeni Fola, Turkey: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Olive Culture in a Small Village (original) (raw)
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The Cultural, Nutritional and the Socio-economic Value of Greek Messinian Olive Oil
The olive tree is heavily associated with human existence in Greece, and especially in the Messinian region. Messinian olive oil is associated with the tradition of the region and can trigger the olive oil-culture-tourism-economy relationship. The purpose of this study is to examine whether a traditional agricultural product, such as olive oil, it should contribute significantly to sustainable regional development twofold. On one hand, the cultivation of olive and olive oil is an integral part of the Messinian land. Olive oil is a mix of symbolism, values, faith and traditions, constitutes an invaluable intangible cultural heritage of this region, and on the other hand, this Messinian Olive oil is a high quality agricultural product, famous for his benefits (health, nutrition, well-being). The key point is to link the tradition of olive cultivation with new, innovative ideas that, without neglecting the past, modernize it and link it to other forms of economic activity, adding added value to olive oil and yielding multiplier benefits to the economic and social sector. Also the existence of innovative strategies such as product certification is able to create "identity"-brand name, and promote tourism development specializing in olive cultivation, and it should be it cultural heritage. A brand name is created that harmoniously combines history with tradition, nature and the excellent quality of the Messinian Olive oil. This paper is part of a wider research on the role of cultural heritage in sustainable regional development. Methodologically it's based on the qualitative research, especially on the research technique of "triangulation".
Rediscovering the Origins of Olive Oil in Turkey
Olive Oil Times, 2010
Production of olive oil dates back to prehistoric times in Turkey. In the modern times, however, the consumption of olive oil in Turkey has been less than other Mediterranean countries. And now it's time for history to repeat itself, because olive oil is being rediscovered in Anatolia. It would be such a shame not to mention Anatolia, if we are talking about olive oil's history. In fact, Anatolia has always existed as a part of olive oil culture, but the Greek side of the Aegean coast has been standing in the forefront. And yet, the recent researches might change this land’s fortune on this issue. The archeological excavations in Urla (a district of Izmir province in Turkey’s Aegean Sea coast) revealed the 2500 years of history that belongs to Klazomenia archaic city. Founded by the Ionians in the 10th century B.C., Klazomenia hosted olive oil production around 6th century B.C. In that case, Klazomenians may be the first ones that used the technology of a continuous production system with stone cylinders running around a spindle to crash olives. Klazomenia was surely the olive oil heaven for that time for producing and trading olive oil. Located at 38 km west of Izmir, Klazomenia and the restored olive oil workshop can be visited in Urla. So why, in modern times has Turkey’s olive oil consumption been less than that of other Mediterranean countries? There are several reasons behind this issue such as the high pricing, but a lack of domestic production is certainly not a cause. Today in Turkey, there’s olive cultivation in the 45 % of the country which consists about 36 cities and 71 % of it, happens in the Aegean Sea coast. Out of this total, 70.6 percent is used for olive oil. All over the country, there are about 850 olive oil factories producing over 270,000 tons of olive oil. All of this places Turkey as the fifth largest producer of olive oil in the world, just behind Tunisia, and edging out Syria. Turkey produces 5 percent of the world’s olive oil while it consumes just 2 percent. Fortunately, the National Olive and Olive Oil Council (UZZK) has recently announced that olive oil consumption has increased 40 percent to reach 1.4 kg per person in the last five years. Comparing to the past years where the consumption was 1.0 kg/person between 1980 – 1989, the situation can be considered promising. But of course it’s still not enough when the European Union average consumption is 4.5 kg per person. Even though the statistics can tell the truth, the olive oil culture in Turkey has deeper stories than the numbers. First of all, Turkey is the only country that has a special category in its cuisine for “dishes made with olive oil.” As one of the richest and oldest cuisines in the world, Turkish cuisine is the heart and soul of eastern Mediterranean cooking. Food cooked in olive oil is an indispensable part of this cuisine and some of these delicious dishes are Zeytinyağlı Yeşil Fasulye (string beans in olive oil), Imam Bayıldı (eggplant is cut and stuffed with onion, green pepper/ served cold), Zeytinyağlı Kuru Fasulye (haricot beans in olive oil), Zeytinyağlı Enginar (artichoke cooked with pieces of potatoes,carrots and peas). Well in Turkey, olive oil is not only used in cooking. There sure are so many healthy benefits of olive oil such as being a beauty product but you’d be surprised to learn about the other uses of it. Have you ever heard about the Turkish oil wrestling? It’s one of the most popular traditional sports in Turkey where the wrestlers cover themselves with olive oil before wrestling. They wear tight short leather trousers called “Kispet” made of water buffalo leather weighing approximately 13 kilograms as they wrestle with their bodies oiled. It’s common in all over the country but the most famous tournament called “Kirkpinar” takes place in Edirne. It’s like a big fair with music and celebrations which continues until the morning. The history of oil wrestling tournaments dates back to the Persian era around 1065 B.C. and yet men still continue to find the perfect ‘balance’ for winning in this very hard and interesting sport. The 649th edition of historical Kirkpinar oil wrestlings took place at the end of June, 2010. It went on for a week and, on only the first day, about 500 kg of olive oil was used to cover the wrestlers’ bodies. Today, all of the olive oil production companies and several associations in the country are trying to raise the bar for both consumption and production. The National Olive and Olive Oil council is one of the main organizations in Turkey that help to develop olive oil industry and culture. After Turkey left the International Olive Oil Council in 1998, the National Olive and Olive Oil Council (UZZK) was organized in 2002 and officially established in 2007. The Turkish government is also supporting the sector and hopefully the awareness will continue to develop. To make the very long story short, it seems like the miraculous olive oil is being rediscovered in its homeland, Anatolia.
The aesthetic politics of taste: Producing extra virgin olive oil in Jordan
Geoforum, 2018
DRAFT VERSION (DO NOT CITE): Extra virginity as a standard is predicated on a chemical and sensory evaluation according to the parameters set by the International Olive Council. Though a rich literature examines how food and agricultural standards are implemented in local contexts, little work has assessed how certifications redefine the local aesthetic experience of the food. In order to fill this gap, I analyze the aesthetic politics, which redefine who can taste and how they can do it. I argue that incorporating aesthetic politics into analyses of quality and standards enables tracing how this standard becomes regarded as scientific and, in return, effects a re-aestheticizing of what is considered a(n) (il)legitimate taste. This re-aestheticization redefines 'best practices' in olive oil production, according to the new aesthetic. This particular configuration of the sensorial experience of olive oil, through its dissemination and employment as part of international-funded capacity building efforts, has social and environmental consequences across Jordan. In sum, this paper-based on 15 months of qualitative fieldwork with farmers, NGOs, mill employees, mill owners, and government officials in the Jordanian olive oil industry-explores how basic taste standards for extra virgin olive oil are discursively instilled in sensory evaluations and physically produced in farm and mill management practices. By tracing these processes, this paper furthers our understanding of how seemingly apolitical, scientific standards travel across scales and affect the ways in which people experience taste. 17[Type text][Type text][Type text]
Reading and Documentation of Traditional Rural Olive Oil Mills in Cyprus
Many industrial buildings are valuable heritage buildings that should be conserved as well as the historic buildings since the conservation of these traditional values in the architectural context represents the sense and continuity of the culture of a particular society. Cyprus has been mostly described as an agricultural Island throughout the history due to geological and climatic factors. Olive is one of the most cultivated products of the Island. Therefore, there are many historical olive oil mills and factories in many villages around island. In general, traditional olive oil mills replaced with contemporary olive oil mills or they faced with functional obsolescence due to changing technology. Most of them are abandoned and left over with their original or ruined structures in the context. The lack of conservation investigations in Cyprus was fastened the abandonment process of these traditional olive oil mills within their context. However, there are some of them that are re-used with a new function. In this respect, aim of the present study is to identify and document the current situation of the historical rural olive oil mills in rural regions of Cyprus. Moreover, the study examines identification of common and different characteristics of the traditional rural olive oil mills and highlights the importance that they have to be adopted and maintained after documentation.
Olive crops and rural development: Capital, knowledge and tradition
Regional Science Policy & Practice, 2018
Olive-growing territories are undergoing a strong challenge within globalization. New methods of planting worldwide are reducing costs and improving harvesting processes. In turn, the international value chain of olive oil is being increasingly managed in a professional way, giving rise to new and better olive oils that are opening new niches in new and old markets. Will traditional olive oil Mediterranean regions be able to adapt their model of production in order to face a new situation in the market? The answer is conditioned by the struggle between the knowledge of the sector and the regional traditions.
2022
The systematic and intensive archaeological field surveys and excavations have been conducted at Phoenix, Casara, and Thysannus in Carian Chersonese since 2021. The systematic research in the region carried out by the Phoenix Archaeological Project (PAP) provided new data for the olive oil and wine productions in the chora. The previous GIS-based studies have already created a model partly for agricultural production scales for the southwestern part of the Bozburun Peninsula. However, the new data gathered from the fieldwork have revealed that it is necessary to reconsider the previous hypothesis. This paper aims to present to re-think and re-scale the agrarian organization of the region with a holistic approach in the light of the new explorations on the material culture such as agricultural terraces, farmsteads, and the production units.
Transformation of Olive Related Customs and Olive-growing Farms in North Africa
2015
North African region with a peculiar climate of arid and semiarid, has much common with Southern part of Europe and Middle Eastern regions both geographically and culturally. The varieties of the customs and belief on olive can be seen in this region which shows the importance of olive for their lives. Even though these traditional customs face the modernity, they survive in rural and have been transformed into the adequate mode with urban life. In this paper, the old and new customs and the contemporary theme of olive growing are examined.
The Role of Knowledge in Constructing the Quality of Olive Oil in Spain
Sustainability
The sustainability of a large proportion of Spanish olive oil-producing territories depends to a great extent on their capacity to fit into a specific model of food quality. The strategies used in the different territories differ with respect to their adherence to the objectifiable conception of quality, based on scientific-technical knowledge, or subjectivating conception of quality, based on tacit and practical knowledge. In this paper, we analyse the route taken by two territories with olive oil protected designation of origin (PDO) status in Spain to construct their quality model, the type of knowledge that has been applied and how knowledge processes affect the construction of sustainable quality models. This study applies a qualitative methodology based on participative observation and semi-structured interviews with key actors of the territories. The results indicate that processes of production, reproduction and dissemination of knowledge are basic pillars for the constructi...
Organic rural development: Barriers to value in the quest for qualities in Jordanian olive oil
Journal of Rural Studies, 2019
PRE-PROOF VERSION: Organic farming in support of smallholder farmers is a popular development strategy. However, certified organic agriculture has proven to be a paradox: certification requirements designed to promote environmentally sustainable farming often lead to agricultural intensification contrary to organic agriculture’s stated goals. This article, based on 15 months of qualitative fieldwork in Jordan, argues that the paradox of organic agriculture in Jordan centers on the ways in which the ‘alternative’ organic olive oil production functionally requires producers to abandon local markets and engage in long-distance commodity chains. This shift alters how value is added to olive oil and changes technological requirements for processing, storing, packaging, and transporting the oil to international gourmet markets. By calling attention to the social relations in differing commodity networks and chains, my analysis focuses on 1) how quality and value is constructed within material and cultural systems, 2) how farmers become dependent on access to distant consumers, and 3) how production for these consumers alters the structure of relational and technological rents. As a result, I find that the promotion of certified organic, gourmet olive oil for sale in global markets privileges specific regions within Jordan. In short, the structure of relational and technological rents favors resource-intensive production in a Jordanian desert region over ‘traditional’ low-input production in Jordan’s mountainous hinterland. In theoretical terms, this study highlights problematic Jordanian teleologies of success and modernization in agricultural development and offers an examination of those environmental, socio-economic, and political factors that prevent small-farmers from realizing rents in certified agriculture.