The Mediterranean Basin

Delegations of Spain, Italy, Morocco and Greece met on April 13th 2011 in Madrid to study the inclusion of other countries in the representative List of the Mediterranean diet, as reported by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in a press release.

Government officials from the four states have agreed to create a methodology to extend this list to other countries, and have established a schedule of meetings and proposals to strengthen the initiative.



The Mediterranean diet was included in the World Heritage List in the UNESCO Committee held in Nairobi (Kenya), between 15 and 19 November 2010.

Besides the gastronomy, the Mediterranean Diet covers the techniques, rituals, symbolism and emotions of countries bordering the Mediterranean, a project of international character and openness to other regions.

Other countries could be (considering Adriatic Sea part of the Mediterranean Sea):

France, Monaco, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Malta, Cyprus and Algeria. We could also include, for proximity, San Marino, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Palestine (future state) and Portugal. This last country is very “Mediterranean” in its habits and gastronomy, even not touching the Mediterranean Sea. It is included in the Atlantic Diet zone (See “Promoting the Atlantic Diet”). In the map, Serbia and Montenegro appear as “Yugoslavia”.

Recently, the Spanish Government has asked the rest of the countries of the European Union to support the request that Mediterranean Diet should be declared by UNESCO World Heritage.

The undeniable benefits of the Mediterranean Diet are well known by most of the people, specially by the USA citizens’. We have to recognize that the concept was not only discovered but also launched by this great nation.

The Mediterranean Diet is not only food. It is a philosophy and a way of life. Daily exercise, respect for the Environment, love for the traditions, and search of the roots of the good food intake.

We have to fight the potentially dangerous food. The Mediterranean Diet does not ban any food except the artificial ones. The most important thing is to keep the proportions in our diet and to accommodate it to the characteristics of every person. If we have health problems, it should be the doctor who had to give us guidance.

We are having problems for telling people to avoid trans fats. They are present in many manufactured foods. We suggest everybody to read the labels and to avoid the ones containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats.

The trans fats also appear if you want to reuse any type of natural fats or oils. The more you reuse them, the higher proportion of trans fat you’ll have in your pan.

It is our intention to continue promoting the Mediterranean Diet and following our crusade against the trans fats, in spite of the difficulties we may encounter.