561 Determining of Women Behaviour over Olive Oil Usage M. Comert 1 , N. Sanlier 1 , F. Durlu-Özkaya 1 and M.T. Özkaya 2,a 1 Gazi University, Commerce and Tourism Education Faculty, Tourism Management Education Department, 06830, Gölbasi, Ankara, Turkey 2 Ankara University, Agriculture Faculty, Department of Horticulture, 06110, Diskapi, Ankara, Turkey Keywords: olive oil, women consumers’ preferences, olive oil usage habits and behaviours Abstract Olive is cultivated in many parts of Turkey and olive oil is widely used, especially in Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean regions. It is observed that Turkish women, who are responsible for family nutrition in Turkey, often prefer margarine, butter, animal fat and other vegetable-based fats over olive oil, or do not have enough information on how to use olive oil. On the other hand, the most important responsibility for increasing olive oil consumption is dependent on women. Women becoming more conscious and wider range of olive oil usage in the prepared dishes means a wider range of people from all age groups becoming more conscious about it. Women using olive oil in the food they prepare will create both a big difference in their taste and bring a great deal of benefits for the health. For this reason, this study was prepared and performed to distinguish women consumers’ awareness and habits on olive oil usage in order to increase olive oil consumption. In this study the survey methodology was used in order to distinguish women’s olive oil consumption profile. In order to collect research data a two part questionnaire was used. The first part included demographic information about women who conducted the survey (age, gender, educational information, etc.), and the second part included their opinions on olive olil usage. Accumulated data were evaluated using SPSS 11.0 and will be presented during the symposium. INTRODUCTION Olive oil is one of the most valuable nutrients that nature presents to human being. Olive oil is not subjected to any chemical processes and it can be consumed with its natural condition in room temperature (Özen and Kahvecioğlu, 2008). Olive oil affects health in a positive way from the childhood to the old age in every stage of the life. In addition to supplying energy, it is efficient in protecting us from mainly cardiovascular, hypertension, cancer, digestive system and nervous system diseases thanks to the monounsaturated fatty acids and antioxidant substances that it contains (Visroli and Galli, 2001; Çolakoğlu, 1992). It is also known that the most excellent oil is olive oil for children in adolescence (Acunaz, 1989). Olive oil can be used for frying for so many times without being spoilt in contrast to other types of natural oils because of its composition. It gives flavour to products that are baked in oven such as bread, pie, cake, biscuit, etc. and it prevents these types of foods from getting dry (Özen and Kahvecioğlu, 2008). Moreover, in addition to using olive oil in cooking, it is used for medicine, ointment, health and cosmetic products as well. The sector of olive cultivation is one of the sub-branches of our country’s agriculture and agriculture based industry. There are many families who make their livings from this branch (Olgun, 1996). Turkey is the 6 th country among olive oil producer countries, neverthless it is the country which consumes the least olive oil among these six countries (Yıldırım, 2008). In Turkey olives grow in 36 of the 81 provinces provinces representing 70.6% of them cultivated for oil production and 29.4% for table (http://www.zae.gov.tr/ekonomi/2.asp). a mucahit.ozkaya@gmail.com Proc. VI th IS on Olive Growing Eds.: E.M. Sampaio and A.C. Pinheiro Acta Hort. 949, ISHS 2012