A small room on Turkey’s Aegean coast has become the world’s first library dedicated entirely to olive oil — and instead of reading, visitors taste. The Yücel Sönmez Olive Oil Library opened on March 29 inside the Sevilma Garden in Orhanlı village, Seferihisar, in the province of İzmir, bringing together 80 varieties of olive oil from regions stretching from Anatolia to North America.
The library occupies just 30 square metres within the Sevilma Garden, described as Turkey’s first Slow Food Farm. Its shelves hold curated oils from across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, each available for guided tasting directly from small taps fitted to light-blocking containers.
A library you taste, not read
Rather than cataloguing oils by quality or ranking them competitively, the library invites visitors to explore differences in flavour, aroma and texture — and to understand how geography, soil and culture shape every bottle. Each variety comes with information on its climate, soil conditions, production methods and cultural background, framing olive oil as an expression of heritage rather than simply a food product.
The project was developed by Sevilma Zeytinyağları, the olive oil producer behind the Sevilma Garden, and was conceived by businessman Güven Eken together with journalist and environmental activist Yücel Sönmez, who died in June 2025 shortly after the concept was first shared with him. The library has been named in his honour. Sönmez was a former travel editor for Hürriyet Seyahat.
Millennia of olive culture on a single shelf
“It was born from the understanding of preserving the individual, social and cultural existence of gastronomic products,” said Güven Eken, Founder, Sevilma. The library, he adds, aims to “make visible the millennial journey of the olive tree and the diversity of olive oil production culture.”
Eken is clear about what makes a truly great olive oil. “A good olive oil must not only possess perfect sensory and chemical properties. At the same time, it must reflect geographical, ecological and cultural values. From this perspective, olive oil is one of the most diverse cultural legacies on the planet,” he said. The sensory journey on offer spans regional diversity — from Aegean and Mediterranean oils to those from the Sea of Marmara and Anatolian blends — a diversity, Eken insists, that “is not reflected only in words, but directly through taste.”
Spain, Latin America and future expansion
For now, the library holds just one Spanish olive oil — from Málaga — though the team has firm ambitions to grow that representation. “The culture of the olive tree and olive oil in Spain is one of the richest in the world. Increasing Spanish representation in the library is one of our priorities,” said Güven Eken, Founder, Sevilma. “We also want to incorporate examples from Argentina, Chile and Peru,” he added.
Rooted in a 250-year agricultural tradition, Sevilma operates under agroecological principles and is part of the global Slow Food movement, which is dedicated to defending gastronomic quality and preserving olive-growing traditions. Those traditions were recognised in 2023 by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. The library is intended as a reference point for gastronomy professionals, researchers, producers and enthusiasts alike — a place where olive oil is understood not as a commodity, but as a living record of the world’s oldest agricultural cultures.
Photo Credit: instagram @sevilmafood
