Culture

Due to historical, scientific or qualitative reasons, these communities employ a particular significance together with the national communities of the seven nominated States (Italy, Spain, Greece, Morocco, Portugal, Croatia and Cyprus), and establish a substantial part of their identity and continuity through the Mediterranean diet, intended as a lifestyle (from Greek diaita).

Meals have become a significant ritual and taken on a symbolic value amongst people of the Mediterranean. Thanks to the concept of eating together, in addition to nourishment, the cultural foundations of interpersonal relationships are reinforced, guaranteeing identity, and social and cultural continuity, both for the individuals that make up communities, and the communities as a whole.

Mediterranean cuisine represents the fundamental place where gestures, uses and customs that belong to tradition are recovered, without giving up on experimenting with creativity. Both an application and an artistic re-elaboration of tradition are carried out between the stoves: thanks to the culture of the Mediterranean Diet, the kitchen is the place where raw materials enter and complex dishes come out, which are much more than the simple sum of the individual components. Another essential element in the kitchen is intergenerational dialogue, ...

Dating back to the history of Mediterranean populations, sitting together around a table has always represented, and continues to represent a moment of assertion and restoration in the family and the community, of the respective history, setting, symbols, values and beliefs. Traditions and expressions are transmitted orally from one generation to the next during a banquet, in which the social function consists of continuously reinvigorating relationships between people that possess knowledge and those that learn it.

From the Phoenicians up until the Ancient Greeks, from the Roman Empire to nowadays, the communities of the Mare Nostrum have developed practices, knowledge, skills, identity and communal traditions in the world of craftsmanship, fishing and agriculture. Dating back to ancient times, cereals, olive trees, grapevines, fruit and vegetables have been cultivated on the Mediterranean land, cultivation and activities that shape the territory, conserving and safeguarding it in its biological and cultural diversity. The Mediterranean people have always acquired the food for their tables from these products, that not only represent a source of sustenance but also a priceless cultural heritage of the transmission of know-how, values and traditions.

Often situated in the main square, the market was the place where one bought food, but also where people spoke about foods and recipes, discussed politics, religion and current affairs. It was, in short, the cornerstone of social and cultural relations. Even today, markets are a custom, a way of finding harmony with nature, with its life cycle and seasonality, thanks to the local produce that fill the market stalls. Furthermore, the underlying foundation of market life is a daily participation, where a personal relationship of trust is established between buyers and sellers. All within the framework of a strong symbolic role and ancient tradition that has led to the present day examples of architecture and aesthetic compositions, no lesser than works of art.

This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, which gives them a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. The “Intangible Cultural Heritage” appears in traditions and oral expressions, including language; in the performing arts; in social customs, ceremonial events and festivals, in ideas and practices in relation to nature and the universe; in traditional craftsmanship.

The "intangible cultural heritage" is manifested, among other, oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the heritage ...

Ever since antiquity the techniques of cultivating produce from the land and the art of preparing recipes, have been handed down orally, together with a heritage of rich social and cultural values. Skills, techniques, gestures, expressions, uses and traditions are transmitted every day from the elderly to the new generations, both during the activities of cultivation, fishing and craftsmanship, as at the moment of sharing the ritual meal, symbolic of the Mediterranean diet.

In addition to possessing beneficial nutritional elements for the human body, and therefore being considered for its dietary aspect, UNESCO also recognized the Mediterranean diet as a cultural element, a set of social, traditional and agricultural practices, as a lifestyle. The Mediterranean diet favors the intergenerational transmission of know-how and skills related to wine and food and more, and promotes intercultural dialogue between populations of the Mare Nostrum, all the while reinforcing their identity.