Croatian Celebrities Awarded at Local Olive Oil Quality Contest

The success in Zadar has even inspired a former Eurovision Song Contest winner to consider entering the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

From actresses and singers to former professional athletes, even Croatian celebrities cannot resist the charms of olive oil production.

Among the winners of a local olive oil quality competition were former association footballer Niko Kranjčar and his partner, Zrinka Cvitešić, a well-known television and theater actress. The couple owns an olive grove in Donji Humac on the island of Brač.

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Singer Emilija Kokić and her husband Miljenko Kokot, a television personality, were also among the gold medal winners at the 25th International Olive Days competition in Zadar.

Two hundred forty-three samples arrived in the Dalmatian city from all over Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and even Spain.

“We love olives and olive oil, and the best is the one you produce yourself,” Kokić and Kokot said. The couple farms about 80 olive trees planted by Kokić’s father near Ravni Kotar in northern Dalmatia.

“We try to produce high-quality, extra virgin olive oil,” the couple added, and they succeeded. Their oil won gold in the competition, scoring 95 out of 100.

Kokić, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1989, said the result had led her to consider sending an extra virgin olive oil sample to the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition after the next harvest.