View from the Saddle – Giles & Annie Henschel’s 10,000-mile Mediterranean journey

When Olives Et Al founders Giles and Annie Henschel set off in 2024 on a round-Mediterranean journey, they weren’t chasing postcards – they were chasing questions. On 32 year old bikes, the same they used in the trip that inspired the creation of Olives Et Al way back in 1992. They met the growers and farmers facing the frontline of climate change. From Spain’s parched reservoirs to Italy’s absent harvests, the olive tree’s future had never looked more urgent.

In the early 90s, Giles and Annie Henschel embarked on a year-long adventure that would be the inspiration for Olives Et Al. Travelling on motorbikes through the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa, they fell in love with the food they ate along the way.They couldn’t gather many souvenirs but did gather recipes hoping to re-capture the essence of their experiences by recreating at home the foods they had enjoyed abroad.Using all the knowledge they’d collected during their travels, they launched Olives Et Al in 1993 to satisfy their own culinary cravings and to share great Olives with a wider audience.