Living the Mediterranean Dream, Dolce Vita style

Boston, April 2022. The Mediterranean Diet Roundtable®, in collaboration with the Ebris Foundation of Salerno, is pleased to announce its first experiential conference in the Campania region of Italy, right in the footsteps of Ancel Keys, the physiologist who defined the Mediterranean Diet concept and its paradigm with the landmark Seven Countries Study. Keys studied the influence of diet on health, creating the basis for the scientific investigation of eating patterns distinctive of the Mediterranean cuisines. This pilot project will be a sensory journey among the most precious products of the Mediterranean Diet; the experiential conference will last five days, each dedicated to the discovery of aromas and flavors and a crossroad of culinary cultures beyond geographical borders.

The benefits of the Mediterranean Diet are not just felt on a health and wellbeing level but also on social, economical, and sustainability aspects. In fact, the promotion of greater food awareness, linked to the knowledge of seasonality, biodiversity, and naturalness of foods, are fundamental components of the Mediterranean Diet, as well as the optimization of food combinations intimately connected to local economies and unique flavor profiles, with a positive impact on eno-gastronomic tourism. Furthermore, the adoption of these virtuous food practices can ensure less pressure on national health systems: good eating habits better promote the general population’s wellbeing. This last aspect is especially important: scientific studies are increasingly recognizing a preventive and/or therapeutical value to nutrition in various pathological contexts. The Ebris Foundation, partner of the MDR in this conference, is leading an innovative international research project that links nutrition, microbiota, and specific pathologies.

An important innovation in this event is the role of precious products and culinary practices, honored in centuries of traditions: blue fish and fermentation techniques, San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, lemons, pulses, herbs, honey, and so much more will come to life directly from the fields. The MDR approach promotes not a sterile set of rules to follow, but rather living a lifestyle in its real setting, in an articulated and complex narrative. Participants will experience it directly from its territories and their unique environmental characteristics, getting to understand traditional know-how and innovative techniques, organoleptic properties, biodiversity, environmental sustainability, cultural specificities, and healthy practices, all while glimpsing at preventive approaches in the medicine of the near future.

In short, to tell a story that is a maze of references and correspondences between all the elements that make a model nourish an invaluable cultural, historical, social, and environmental heritage.

In the process, just like all of the MDR events, the result will be the creation of a network of stakeholders interested in the Mediterranean food model from different perspectives: production to consumption, agricultural practices to nutrition and health, from the environment to culture to economy. Institutional representatives, experts (scientists, national and international researchers, nutritionists), local producers, protection consortia, chefs, university representatives, and different layers of the American food System will be experiencing the event.

This project has been made possible thanks to the collaboration between the MDR, Ebris Foundation, Approdo di Ulisse, and the Museo Vivente della Dieta Mediterranea.