The cultural model of the Mediterranean Diet (DM) is based on festivals and popular cuisine, which is the foundation of the UNESCO Immaterial Heritage of Umanità. It is a patrimonio da proteggere, data on its fragility and its continued protection in current Mediterranean society.
The preservation of the DM implies a transnational participation on the part of the government, the city and the cultural, agricultural and sanitary sectors that preserve cultural diversity, biodiversity and protect the productive and regenerative capacity of the land and the health of the person. Even though this is an important question, it is still necessary to identify the settori and the area of intervention that can make the difference. What follows is a contribution for an essential discussion:
1) “Diet” means “style of life”, the “daiata” degli antichi greci. In the Mediterranean, an important way of communication and communication in the human history, this style of life is always in continuous and rapid evolution, expanding and adapting over the last 8000 years. One of the main characteristics of the DM is, therefore, its adaptation capacity and its diversity. Adapting to the climate, the new experience, the new understanding and intercultural influence. Preserving DM means preserving biological and cultural diversity.
2) The Mediterranean Diet presents a variety of regional manifestations of microclimate, cultural conditions, religion and health. In the meantime we can share a subtle and profound culinary knowledge, the great importance of pasti, the kitchen and all the conviviality of the meals around a table. Atto, last question, don't consider it a waste of time. Preserving the DM means preserving the time of the impiegano family in producing, purchasing, cooking and managing inside.
3) The Mediterranean Diet has a direct game with its natural and agricultural cycles. The Mediterranean Diet adapts to the climate. It is, fundamentally, stagional: it changes with the stagioni dell'anno e coi prodotti fresh locali. Preserve the MD include preserving the capacity to produce in the territory in which we live and grow to buy in an equitable way and sustain the production. Preserving the DM means protecting local products and strengthening the regional economy.
4) It is important that the Mediterranean Diet contributes to good health. Use the food (oil, cereal, vegetables, fruit…) to prepare the loaf for your frugalità. The ultimate quest involves magic and secondo i propria fabbisogni energetici e puntare sulla qualità invece che sulla quantità: solo così si podeno prevente malattie, como l'obesità o il diabetes. Preserving the MD means concentrating on the quality of my food products for greater consumption.
5) The Mediterranean Diet includes a quantity of meat and fish, but is an essentially vegetable-based dietary model. La DM in Portogallo is characterized by the largest quantity of fish, zuppe and piatti unici. Preservare la DM significa valorizzare questi sapori e saperi nalle scuole, dove mangiare e saper cucinare mediterraneo dev reentrare nel quotidiano della scuola e dei suoi obiettivi formativi.
6) The Mediterranean Diet is always capable of feeding numerous families and collettività, without ever being able to reach the populous population and is a state of appreciation and utilization of all social strati of the population. The Mediterranean Diet is not a gourmet, expensive and affordable diet. Preserving the Mediterranean Diet means giving the possibility to all access, without losing economic availability.
7) The Mediterranean Diet, being adattabile, has more integration, the patata and the pomodoro trail in the XVI/XVII section. There is an introduction to the conservation of freddo in the XX century, which has permission to ridurre the impiego del sale. And if I learn, in the 20th and 21st, I still have a great contribution to the achievement and preparation of my past. Preserving the DM is rich in the labor of the family as a custodian of the healthy food of the family, the redità and the transmission of the conoscenze and I secreted the culinary arts of the past, but all the time the co-involvement of the contemporaneous nei lavori domestici che non riguardano solo l'alimentazione .
8) The Mediterranean Diet has a huge impact on the health of the population and this overall aspect is of great value to society. In addition, the scientific information that collegates the DM and the health maintenance allows the creation of a coherent line that facilitates the intervention and the value of its impact. Preserving the DM implies sviluppo and the improvement of the sanitary settore on this issue.
9) I changed the climate, with the increase in average temperature, the decrease in precipitation, demographic fattore and desertification, which significantly reduced water availability, reduced food production and its human contribution. It's important that the DM protects the environment. Even though food consumption is very conscious, we may experience differences across the world. Preservare la DM means, therefore, preserve the piano, collaborating in the first place with the environmental sector.
10) The Mediterranean Diet is born from the balanced interaction between tradition and nature, it has a social and cultural model for the Mediterranean society, influencing even beyond the piano. Preserving the DM means preserving the popular and food culture of the South American society (Southern Europe, Nordic Africa and the Middle East) having, in this process, a central core in the cultural sector.
Note – Translated with the support of ASCIPDA – Associazione Socio-Culturale Italiana del Portogallo Dante Alighieri
Written by
Pedro Graça, Director of the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Porto
