“Culture and history plunge directly into things, into stones, into wrinkles on human faces, in the taste of wine and oil, into the color of waves,” wrote Italian scholar Claudio Magris.
A centuries-old traditional diet has benefited tens of thousands of people in the place where the scholar lives. Following this diet, people increase their longevity, improve their life quality, and even reduce their risk of cancer. The diet is called the Mediterranean diet.
The Mediterranean diet was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2013. It is a three-dimensional system that includes a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, and the diet itself….