Meet The Maker - Cristina Stribacu of LIÁ Olive Oil

Written by: Giuliana Mackler

Elia is the Greek word for olive tree. The landscape of Messinia, in southwestern Greece, is blanketed in these trees, famous for their Koroneiki olives. Cristina Stribacu, founder of LIÁ, an award winning monocultivar extra virgin oil, can trace her earliest memories to the smells of her family’s olive grove, where her mother came to finish the harvest just three days after giving birth with Cristina in tow, snuggled in a basket by her side. LIÁ is aptly named for her childhood mispronunciation of elia, and is a living tribute to her love of family, culture, and the heritage of the Koroneiki olive.

It all began with the marriage of Cristina’s parents in 1975, when her mother received 19 olive trees from her grandfather. In later years, her parents bought more land and expanded the farm bit by bit. As teenagers, Cristina and her brother Konstantinos, who continues to manage the grove today, planted an additional 600 trees. The grove now totals over 3,000 trees across 13 hectares, all of the Koroneiki variety. Working exclusively with this olive is both an inheritance and a choice. “Koroneiki is deeply rooted in this place. We are located just 30 minutes from Koroni, where the variety takes its name. This landscape is shaped by Koroneiki, and likely hosts some of the oldest trees of this cultivar in the world. This is what we know, what we understand, and what we can express best.”

Lori Levy, founder of Portfolio, met Cristina when both women were invited to develop the online group Women in Olive Oil (WIOO) into a formalized network. They had an instant rapport with a shared passion for art, culture, education, and advocating for women in business. Several years later they began to work on initiatives outside of WIOO, as Lori introduced LIÁ in specialty food stores throughout New York City. She remembers her first taste of LIÁ all too well. “It’s as if somebody had dropped me in the middle of a field of grass. I experienced that again recently with the new harvest, but this time, it’s as if I was dropped in a field of grass with wildflowers everywhere. It’s such an exceptional harvest and is the most incredible expression of Cristina's family farm. ”

Their production is still a family affair, with Cristina running the business, her brother Konstantinos managing the grove, and her partner Dimitris handling the logistics. In fact, it was Cristina who proposed converting the operation from bulk oil production to a high quality extra virgin. Her devotion to the heritage of her homeland placed a strong emphasis on the preservation of biodiversity and supporting the grove in adapting to the challenges of climate change. “For us, biodiversity is lived. It means that in January, you can walk through the grove and gather more than ten different varieties of wild greens. In March, you find wild asparagus growing between the olive trees. The soil remains alive, not sterile, full of native plants and insects. We actively avoid practices that would suppress this natural ecosystem, allowing the grove to function as a balanced environment rather than a monoculture. I make my living from trees that somebody planted 200 years ago. I feel responsible for them.”

Greece is no stranger to climate change. After olive biodiversity was severely truncated by a series of fires and frosts between the 1980s and 90s, Koroneiki was the dominant cultivar replanted in groves across the country. What was known as a fruit used for bulk production has been slowly gaining new life as an olive capable of producing a high quality, expressive oil. Maintaining this quality is increasingly difficult, as rising temperatures are again causing havoc and environmental instability. “Olive trees are resilient, but they require time to adapt, and so do we, as producers. The variability of weather patterns has made production less predictable. I always say I can never call myself an olive oil expert. You are not an expert when you work with nature.”

Greece has the largest per capita consumption of olive oil, around 10 liters/year. By comparison, the US averages around 1 liter/year. Olive oil is a central pillar of Greek culture and cuisine, including the dishes of ladera (a style of cooking also found in Turkish and Arab cuisines) that comprises vegetables cooked in large amounts of olive oil. It’s the oil that allows the nutrients in the foods to be easily digested and absorbed, much like ash or lime in the nixtamalization of corn. “Greek cuisine has a lot of vegetables such as green beans, which are very heavy for the stomach. If you don't cook them with extra virgin olive oil, the beans are hard to digest. Ladera exists because it’s the way we absorb the vitamins from our food.” Lori points to another classic pairing of tomatoes and olive oil. “They not only sing together, the olive oil releases lycopenes and other nutrients that become available for absorption. There are so many foods that olive oil activates in this same way.”

As for the trend of morning olive oil shots with high polyphenolic oils? Cristina finds it a bit puzzling. “Every day I receive emails asking about the polyphenol count of LIÁ and I always use this example: if you make orange juice with 20 kilos of oranges, it doesn't mean you will get all the vitamin C from that amount of fruit. The same thing happens with olive oil. It doesn't mean that you will absorb all the polyphenols in one day. We are losing the essential use of the product with trends like this.”  European Union regulation does not allow for polyphenol count nor flavor profiles to be listed on olive oil labels, as both deteriorate over time. Much of that has to do with the natural evolution of the oil as its composition changes over time with exposure to oxygen, light, and heat. This labelling restriction, however, does not apply to the US, something Lori considers a misuse of marketing. 

Virtue signaling is a practice often used by bigger brands as a means of enticing sales via information or health claims people don’t fully understand. Olive oil contains hundreds of different phenolic compounds. There are two main methods for measuring those compounds and neither are exact, nor do they accurately isolate the specific compounds our body can absorb. A bottle containing 1200mg/liter of the active polyphenols desirable in olive oil would make it practically inedible due to the level of bitterness and pungency expressed in the flavor. Nevertheless, these types of claims are proliferated by many US brands. As Cristina explains, “One of the biggest challenges independent producers are facing is the disconnect between storytelling and reality in the market. Large brands often dominate through aggressive marketing, promoting narratives around sustainability and origin, while sourcing oils at scale and blending [oils of different origins] anonymously. This creates confusion for consumers and puts pressure on small producers who are genuinely investing in quality and environmental care, but lack the same visibility. There is increasing demand for transparency and sustainability across the value chain, but the market is not always ready to support the true cost behind these practices.”

The importance of education and community within the Greek olive oil industry led Cristina to create the LIÁ Hub as a natural extension of her family’s work with agricultural and economic viability, and advocacy for Greek oil. “Greece is an important producer of olive oil, but Italian companies come here to buy in bulk. I came up with the idea for the Hub because my experience of trade fairs, buyers, journalists, and consumers, is that they don't really know Greek oil.” To fill that knowledge gap, the non profit LIÁ Hub has been expanding their initiatives, including hosting tasting workshops, seminars, agricultural training, and networking for women entrepreneurs in the olive oil industry.  

To make learning accessible, the LIÁ Hub has collaborated with the STG House Greece and the Group of Netherlands, together with additional sponsorship from the Dutch Embassy, to offer free training for farmers in efforts to increase oil quality and develop additional revenue streams while preserving biodiversity and honoring Greek olive oil culture, all within the framework of a circular economy. “This is an initiative that is built to last, to rebuild the olive oil business and give farmers ways of earning money from everything that exists in the grove. For our communities this is important because we see so much desertification. The olive community is keeping smaller towns alive.”

In addition to being tireless advocates for olive oil education, both Cristina and Lori are working to advance the role of women in the industry. Over the last few years, Cristina has spoken at several conferences, appearing before the European Committee in 2025 regarding women’s entrepreneurial endeavors. That same year, she and Lori assembled a panel of esteemed colleagues including Brenda Wilkinson, Marije Passos, and Angela Ruiz Dias to speak at the Olive Oil World Congress in Madrid and meet with heads of the International Olive Council. As Lori recalls, “It was a landmark moment being seen and heard at the highest level, in the heart of the industry. We had a superstar panel of producers, marketers, and scientists talking about the power of women through an economic lens. We’re making great changes and are doing the work, quietly, day after day, and increasing the economic outlook as a result. They're watching what we're doing, watching our conversations, and know we’re interested in building lasting, sustainable supply chains, creating communication and educational resources, and advocating for more women in this business.” 

Looking ahead towards the future of LIÁ, Cristina aims to continue growing as a brand as well as a platform for knowledge, connection, and transformation. “We are developing a network of producers who, through education and shared practices, are gradually rethinking how olive oil is cultivated and valued. At the same time, we want to deepen the connection between people and the landscape, not just through the product, but through experience, culture, and understanding. The vision is to contribute to a future where olive oil is not treated as a commodity, but as a cultural and agricultural expression that carries meaning, care, and responsibility.”

Join us to hear more from Lori and Cristina at the next online session of Meet the Maker on Thursday, May 13th, at 12 p.m. EST where we will dive deeper into the LIÁ story, the future of olive oil, and our shared vision for building community through food, education, and culture. Attendance is free and all are welcome. 

Sign up HERE to pull up a chair and get into the grove.

Giuliana Mackler is an olive oil specialist and educator with a background in hospitality management. She holds certifications from the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche Pollenzo, Universidad de Jaén, International Olive Council, Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Olio Di Oliva, Associazione Internazionale Ristoranti dell’Olio, and the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. She is a contributing editor to the oliveoilprofessor.com, as well as a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier International and the International Association of Culinary Professionals.  Based between Tuscany and New York, Giuliana creates tasting workshops for curious palates and culinary professionals, and consults on gastro tourism development, culinary projects, books, and events. You can find her at www.giulianamackler.com.