THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY PROPOSED AS A “CULTURAL AND IMMATERIAL WORLD HERITAGE” BY ITALY, SPAIN, GREECE AND MOROCCO. MINISTER LUCA ZAIA: “THIS EXALTS THE IDENTITY AND THE AGRICULTURE OF OUR COUNTRY

It is now official: Italy, Spain, Greece, and Morocco, the four countries that have contributed to defining the cultural, historical, productive, landscape, health, and social aspects of the Mediterranean diet, have presented their formal proposal to UNESCO for its nomination as a “Cultural and Immaterial World Heritage”.

“Ours” – explained Italy’s Minister of Agriculture, Luca Zaia – “is a nomination of Italian food products, behind which there is the history, the tradition and the identity of our territory. It is a way to exalt our typical products that are an irreplaceable patrimony of our country and we hope that it soon becomes a world heritage”.

The Mediterranean diet, already recognized by WHO and FAO as a model diet of health, sustainability, and quality, “ is an immaterial cultural heritage that has a long tradition, alive and in continuous evolution, shared by all of the countries of the Mediterranean, which incorporates knowledge, flavors, methods, food products, cultivation and social spaces linked to the territory”, added Zaia.

The addition onto the UNESCO list would allow each participating country to create a project to valorize and put into act conservation measures that will allow the food and agricultural traditions of the respective territories to survive.
The procedure for recognition by UNESCO foresees a verification of the regularity and completeness of the documentation by mid January. Subsequently – between May and June of 2009 – an evaluation committee will establish whether the Mediterranean diet can be considered an immaterial cultural heritage and will send its opinion to UNESCO who will then make its final decision by September 2009. The countries have this time period to define modes and forms of support for their candidacy. “The recognition of the Italian diet as an immaterial cultural heritage is a great opportunity for our agriculture” – concluded Minister Zaia – and would represent further recognition for ‘Made in Italy’ and the quality of Italian food products”.

It is an outcome that is also hoped for by the agricultural organization Coldiretti, according to whom, with the leadership that has already been conquered for fruit, vegetables, pasta, wine and olive oil production, the recognition of the Mediterranean diet as a UNESCO world heritage is a goal that could have extraordinary value for Italy.
Coldiretti also emphasized that, thanks to Italian farmers, the Mediterranean diet is a patrimony that has been saved from extinction and exported all over the world, bringing with it health and well-being. And it is a result that has been obtained notwithstanding attempts to introduce production methods and practices that de-naturalize the true identity of these products, as in the cases of adding sugar to wine, of mixing oils of different origins and of making fruit drinks without, well, the fruit.