The Mediterranean diet: Europe defends it

Europe defends the Mediterranean diet in Brussels as “mankind’s immaterial cultural heritage”. During a public meeting of the Commission for Agriculture of the European Parliament, Cosimo Lacirignola (director of the agronomic Mediterranean institute from Bari) and the famous chef Alfonso Iaccarino tried to explain this lifestyle involving not only cooking but a philosophy of life, too. Last August in Paris, Italy together with Spain, Greece and Morocco asked Unesco for the official candidacy of the Mediterranean diet as mankind’s material cultural heritage. The decision is expected for next year. Enzo Lavarra (EU secretary) underlined “the EU will be a fundamental partner to reach this aim”. At the end of the meeting the project “Locande d’Europa” was presented, supported by the Italian Confederation of Farmers and financed with the communitarian funds of the programme “Leader plus”; this programme had the purpose to promote the cooking and cultural traditions of the Regions Apulia, Abruzzo, Tuscany and Sardinia with the partnership of Sweden and Romania.