Weaving Pollica and New York City together to grow healthier communities
Since the Middle Ages, food has always been conceived as the result of a plurality of elements perfectly balanced among them and managed in the collective interest.
Food is first and foremost a common good that indissolubly binds the individual to nature, capable of nourishing mankind and feeding the sense of community.
The Mediterranean lifestyle is undoubtedly the most tangible example of care and regeneration at 360 degrees, capable of extending to all dimensions of life. A model that from food and its values, has been forged and adapted over the centuries, through encounters, mixing, cross-pollination, and openness to other cultures, religions, histories, and peoples.
Especially in light of the current disruption and leaks today affecting both agri-food systems and the global society, we cannot keep this priceless heritage only within our national borders. In the same way, as the Mediterranean knowledge has evolved in time and space, also these days the Mediterranean heritage continues to expand in the world.
For this reason, the first international mission of Italy leading the coordination of the UNESCO Mediterranean Diet Emblematic Communities started in New York City, the origin of the discoverers of the Mediterranean Diet, as it is called today: Ancel and Margaret Keys.