The Cultural Dimension of the Mediterranean Diet as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Giovanni Scepi () and Pier Luigi Petrillo ()
Additional contact information
Giovanni Scepi: UNESCO Secretariat of 2003 Convention
Pier Luigi Petrillo: Unitelma Sapienza

A chapter in Cultural Heritage and Value Creation, 2015, pp 171-188 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The inclusion of the Mediterranean diet on the prestigious UNESCO list is a prime example of the recognition of a common heritage shared by four countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, namely Italy, Spain, Greece and Morocco. These countries presented the first Mediterranean diet nomination to UNESCO in 2009. The inclusion of the Mediterranean diet on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity internationally acknowledged the close link between agricultural and food traditions. In addition, the inclusion recognised the connection between cultural heritage and social identity, highlighting how the concept of “culture” can no longer only be tied to a material dimension but instead must be enriched by different elements such as traditional agricultural and food lifestyles. Food practices and rural traditions are particular expressions of the cultural and social identity of the Italian people and of the other countries in the Mediterranean basin. In the near future, other agricultural practices and food traditions can aspire to the same recognition as full-fledged cultural representations in the spirit of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; Intangible cultural heritage; UNESCO; Food; Agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-08527-2_6

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783319085272

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-08527-2_6

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().