Birthday Mediterranean Diet!
Today, 16 November 2022, we celebrate the 12th anniversary of the recognition of the Mediterranean Diet as Intangible Heritage of Humanity, that thanks to its ability to combine man and nature through social rites in which the power of the community becomes a unique and unrepeatable cultural moment for the sharing of the social identity of individuals. Mediterranean diet, therefore, is not only a healthy lifestyle and a list of protective foods for the protection of health, but is culture, sociality and political choice: historical memory, handed down from generation to generation, to conviviality, an instrument of social cohesion and consolidation of the sense of belonging to a peculiar territorial identity, the choice of safeguarding biodiversity and seasonality to protect the Planet. Living in the Mediterranean style, therefore, means becoming ambassadors of values that, with knowledge and consistency, it is our responsibility to make our children flourish and tell through example and daily commitment.
Precisely on these premises, in Pollica, the cradle of the Mediterranean and home to the emblematic UNESCO community of the Mediterranean Diet, from 11 to 16 November, there was the feast of the Mediterranean Diet, to celebrate this style of life recognized worldwide. This year it is in fact the Municipality of Pollica to coordinate the network of Emblematic Communities of the Mediterranean Diet in 2022.
Many opportunities for meeting and dialogues on the Mediterranean Diet carried out by well-known Neapolitan artists, such as Enzo Avitabile who, through voice and author notes, gave his testimony, the rapper Clementino who, with enthusiasm and energy, was able to involve and tell his Mediterranean style even to the very young, up to the excursus between gastronomy, culture and performance of the actor Sergio Assisi who tells the food through theater and Neapolitan poetry.
In the dense proposal of events, there were institutional moments, the participation of the scientific community and the contribution of local actors who every day work, with their activities, for the enhancement of Cilento cuisine, and for the protection of biodiversity.
In Pioppi, a village where Ancel and Margaret Keys lived and studied, the statue of Ancel Keys, made by Renzo Vassalluzzo, in memory of the passionate work of scientific research that has been carried out for forty years in these places and the contribution to the identification and enhancement of the Mediterranean diet as a positive lifestyle in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
In addition have also been appointed the New Ambassadors of the Mediterranean DietStefania De Pascale, Scientist of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Naples, Giuseppe "Peppone" Calabrese, gastronom and television presenter, Cristian Santomauro, Master Pizzaiolo and Giuseppe Pagano, Farmer.
