About us

Aljeta-Introducing ourselves

Our story
We are Alfrida Xhahili and Chris Versteeg.

Alfrida grew up in Goriçan, a picturesque village near Berat in Albania. Her village is surrounded by countless olive trees.

She still has fond memories of the time when, during the harvest season, all the children in the village helped their parents by climbing the olive trees and carefully harvesting all the olives in the time-honoured way. Bruised olives quickly deteriorate in quality.

Some years later, from mid-October to the end of November, Alfrida was also allowed to help in the small factory where the olives were pressed in a traditional way to produce the very best extra virgin olive oil.

Everyone in the Albanian countryside still helps in one way or another to harvest theolives and produce that coveted extra virgin olive oil.

Therefore, from an early age, Alfrida grew up with extra virgin olive oil that is used year round in almost every dish. During the winter months, it is used to make the famous petullas (Petulla me Vezë), a kind of fried Albanian pancakes. In summertime, this extra virgin olive oil is liberally sprinkled over tomato and cucumber salads. In Goriçan, many tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers are also grown in greenhouses. Often by the same farmers who also have olive trees elsewhere.

Today, that tradition has not changed. Everything is still done in the same way in Goriçan: the way of caring for the olive trees and the way of picking. Certainly, the pressing methods has been somewhat modernized, but the process and craftsmanship remain the same.

Love drew Alfrida to the Netherlands. Together with her husband Chris, she founded Aljeta with the aim of bringing the very best quality Albanian products to the Netherlands and at the same time providing financial support to the people in Albania.

Our Goal
Alfrida and Chris offer local farmers a fair price that they normally cannot get locally or for export. Aljeta’s aim is to give local farmers a fair chance by offering a fair price for their high-quality products, which they work so hard for every year.