Mediterranean Diet Joins UNESCO’s Heritage List

UNESCO has inscribed the Mediterranean diet on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, after a joint nomination from Spain, Greece, Italy and Morocco, and olive oil is the first food named in its description. The decision came at the session of UNESCO’s intergovernmental committee in Nairobi, which closed on Friday, November 19. Here is what was listed, what the listing does and does not mean, and why the olive oil world is pleased.

What happened

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held its fifth session in Nairobi, the first time it has met in sub-Saharan Africa. Its 24 member states, with some 450 participants in the room, inscribed 51 new elements over the week: four on the list of heritage in urgent need of safeguarding and 47 on the Representative List. The Mediterranean diet was one of them, under decision 5.COM 6.41, which found that the nomination met all the criteria.

It was not a first attempt. The four countries first put the idea forward about four years ago and the initial bid did not meet UNESCO’s guidelines. They reworked the file, with Italy coordinating, and tried again. This time it went through.

What exactly was listed

UNESCO does not list a menu. It describes the Mediterranean diet as a body of skills, knowledge, practices and traditions running “from the landscape to the table”: the crops, the harvest, fishing, preserving, processing, cooking and, above all, eating together. The nutritional model it sets out is built mainly on olive oil, cereals, fresh or dried fruit and vegetables, a moderate amount of fish, dairy and meat, plenty of condiments and spices, and wine or infusions, always within each community’s own beliefs.

• Communal meals are treated as the core of the practice, not an optional extra.
• The description stresses respect for the land and biodiversity, and the traditional farming and fishing crafts that go with them.
• It gives women a central role in passing on the knowledge and the rituals.
• Four communities are named as examples: Soria in Spain, Koroni in Greece, Cilento in Italy and Chefchaouen in Morocco.

Why it matters to olive oil

For producers in the four countries, having olive oil named at the head of a UN-recognized cultural heritage is the kind of recognition no advertising budget can buy. It lands in a hard year: Spanish growers have spent two seasons selling below cost, and every promotion board in the Mediterranean will be looking for ways to turn heritage into a better price at origin. Expect to hear the word “UNESCO” at every olive oil fair from now on.

There is a quieter benefit too. The listing puts the groves themselves inside the heritage, not just the kitchen: the terraces, the harvest and the village mill are part of the practice UNESCO describes, and that gives growers an argument for keeping traditional olive landscapes farmed rather than abandoned.

For readers new to the subject, our short guide to what a Mediterranean diet is and our longer piece on why olive oil sits at its heart cover the basics.

What the listing does not mean

It is worth being clear about the limits. The Representative List recognizes a living cultural practice and asks the countries that nominated it to help keep it alive. It is not a health claim, it is not a quality mark, and it says nothing about any particular oil, brand or country of origin. A bottle does not become more Mediterranean, or better, because its label mentions UNESCO. The practice being honored is a way of eating: vegetables, bread and pulses cooked in and dressed with olive oil, at a shared table, most days of the week.

Sources

• UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Decision 5.COM 6.41, Mediterranean diet (Nairobi, November 2010)
• Olive Oil Times, “Mediterranean Diet Makes UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage List” (November 20, 2010)