Exactly this day today, 10 years ago, Marianna, our owner, started Oliveology. What was initially a dream, to be able to cook with Greek ingredients that feel like home, slowly became part of our lives.
Marianna spent a year travelling around Greece, meeting producers, thinking of everything that would make this dream come true. From designing the lovely labels that make our food stand out, to spending nights over spreadsheets with orders, to cooking and tasting all those ingredients that would slowly arrive in London from all over Greece.
Soon after, Marianna was offered a stall at the prestigious Borough Market. With the help and support of her loved ones, family, friends and collaborators, both in London and in Greece, Oliveology had begun.
Weekdays, weekends and holidays were spent at Borough Market, with vibrant Thalia, Marianna’s friend helping out from day one. Ben, Marianna’s partner in life has always been there, be it in his beekeeping suit with a honey jar in hand, or on the Oliveology cargo bicycle.
From our stall, Oliveology invited all of you to taste the exquisite – and now awarded- olive oil and olives that Sakellaropoulos farm has been sending us every year since. A long-standing collaboration and friendship, based on mutual love and respect for the land and its foods. Olives were also placed in large bowls, for everyone to taste. Honey and nuts were offered. Soon, more produce followed.
Our website became an online home of all these ingredients, and thanks to our supporting team from Greece, it grew more and more. It now has a glossary that educates us all and this blog with delicious vegetarian recipes.
Years passed, and in 2016 the small stall became a shop, the first and only offering Greek produce at Borough Market. We couldn’t be more grateful for their support during all those years and more proud for our produce. We hope they feel proud of us too.
As we were looking at the photos from years past, all of us at Oliveology got a bit emotional. For some of us, this was our first job in the big and sometimes scary city that London is. For some of us, it was the first time we worked around something we were passionate about. For some of us, this was the first time we felt like home at work and made real friends.
And we couldn’t have done all of this without the love and support of all from you. Thank you.
Thank you for coming to our shop at Borough Market, for visiting our Railway arch/warehouse in Bermondsey, for tasting our ingredients and cooking our recipes. Thank you for signing up for our cooking workshops and wine tastings, for coming by just to say hi.
Mostly, thank you for making our dream come true.
Happy 10th Anniversary!!
