VOLUNTARY CODE OF CONDUCT FOR PROMOTING ADHERENCE TO THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET
AS A MODEL OF SUSTAINABLE DIET
Globally, and over many decades, hundreds of agreed texts in the form of guidelines, goals, targets, treaties, codes of conduct, declarations, action plans and recommendations covering a variety of topics, have been produced.
There is a long history of failures and unintended consequences in all sectors’ approaches, including interventions of one sector undermining those of the other.
International initiatives and guidelines in nutrition, as well as those addressing environmental sustainability have largely been sector specific.
For many decades, the nutrition and agriculture sectors were focussed on dietary energy supply and food security. Food was the basic unit of nutrition (FAO, 2003).
Individual nutrients were the basic units of nutrition for the health sector. The health sector model focussed on diet-related chronic diseases and micronutrient deficiency diseases. The disease model for malnutrition required pharmaceutical-types of interventions – hence, ‘good’ nutrients were delivered to diverse populations as supplements, fortificants and therapeutic formulations; and intakes of ‘bad’ food components were treated with drugs. Food-based approaches for dealing with micronutrient deficiencies were consequently undermined. Thus, a multi-sectoral, transdisciplinary approach seemed long overdue.
Un primo convegno si è tenuto a Roma nel Febbraio 2023 al fine di attivare le necessarie sinergie per promuovere la ristorazione collettiva da semplice erogatore di servizi a strumento culturale di educazione e formazione, promuovendo congiuntamente i molteplici benefici sostenibili della dieta Mediterranea, attraverso un programma di incontri istituzionali e scientifici, progetti di ricerca, formazione ed educazione, eventi di promozione e campagne di comunicazione.
Il primo convegno dava seguito al side-event “La ristorazione collettiva come strumento culturale per promuovere la dieta Mediterranea: Gusto, qualità, cucina, territori, innovazione, tracciabilità, spreco alimentare, valore del cibo”, tenutosi nell’ambito della 3° Conferenza Mondiale sulla Rivitalizzazione della Dieta Mediterranea, organizzato dal CIHEAM Bari, nel Settembre 2022.
Il primo Convegno nasceva dall'accordo quadro siglato nel dicembre 2022 tra CIHEAM Bari e Plexus International Forum per favorire lo sviluppo e la realizzazione di programmi comuni rivolti ad una campagna di comunicazione triennale sulla valorizzazione della ristorazione collettiva italiana, rivolta alla rivitalizzazione della dieta Mediterranea, attraverso le attività indicate:
Promuovere la Dieta Mediterranea attraverso attività rivolte a valorizzare la dimensione culturale del cibo attraverso la ristorazione italiana rivolta ad una migliore conoscenza dei prodotti dei territori |
Promuovere una nuova percezione della dieta Mediterranea attraverso l’approccio MED DIET 4.0 che valorizza contemporaneamente i molteplici benefici sostenibili della dieta Mediterranea
Attivare una campagna di comunizazione, partendo dall’Italia, per riviltalizzare la dieta Mediterranea come un stile di vita che allo stesso tempo fa bene all’individuo, alla collettività e al pianeta.
The book, 'Sustainable Food Systems. Change of Route in the Mediterranean' explores food system sustainability through a transdisciplinary approach, highlighting the intricate challenges which face food systems - from production to consumption - emphasising the vital role of the Mediterranean diet across different sectors, and recognising ecosystem-dependent relationships and interdependencies.
Inspired by the discussions held at the Third World Conference on the Revitalisation of the Mediterranean Diet, organised by CIHEAM Bari, Italy in 2022, the book is an ideal continuation of a cultural journey towards a change in the vision of Mediterranean food systems, moving from agri-food production to sustainable consumption and placing the Mediterranean diet and the consumer at the heart of this new course.
You can download the book here
https://www.medfoodcultures.org/files/download/corrected%20book28_03_24.pdf
In the international debate on the sustainability of diets and food systems, in recent years the Mediterranean diet, predominantly a plant-based diet with low consumption of animal and industrial products, has been increasingly studied as a model of sustainable diet, context-specific for the Mediterranean. Its sustainability is characterized by four interrelated sustainable benefits, with country-specific variations in nutrition and health, environment, local economy, society and culture. Many questions still need to be addressed on sociocultural and economic assessments of the Mediterranean diet. It is necessary to develop a systemic approach on the Mediterranean diet as a sustainable dietary pattern, more than only on its characteristic food groups. It requires updating the notion of the Mediterranean diet, with a new perspective as a contemporary Mediterranean sustainable lifestyle with contextual differences. In conclusion, it is necessary to rethink the Mediterranean diet, as a sustainable diet model, within the framework of the Mediterranean sustainable food systems, through a new transdisciplinary narrative, overcoming the silos of disciplines, at different levels of specialization, and fragmented sectoral approaches, centered on present and future Mediterranean generations.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0007996023000883
3rd MEDITERRANEAN DIET WORLD CONFERENCE
28-30 September 2022 – CIHEAM Bari
SUMMARY REPORT
To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), the Bari Institute of CIHEAM has organized the Third World Conference on the Revitalization of the Mediterranean Diet. The Conference was held on 28-30 September 2022 in Bari under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, focused on the theme: "Change of Course Towards More Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Mediterranean Countries: the Mediterranean Diet as a Strategic Resource to Accelerate the Agenda 2030 in the Region”.
Aim of the Conference was to trigger a change of route in the current perception of the Mediterranean diet as a sustainable food model, with multiple benefits on health/ nutrition, environment (including biodiversity), economic, social and cultural sustainability, taking in due consideration their contextual differences in Mediterranean countries.
The Conference addressed the priority issues identified during the Second World Conference on the Revitalization of the Mediterranean Diet (Palermo 2019) and builds on the orientations of three SFS-MED independent Food Systems Summit Dialogues, organized in 2021.
It served to boost the operationalization of the SFS-MED Platform, a multi-stakeholder initiative on sustainable food systems in the Mediterranean, jointly initiated as an OPN-SFSP’s affiliated project by CIHEAM, FAO and UfM, with the collaboration of the PRIMA Foundation and its Coordination Desk hosted at the CIHEAM Bari.
PROGRAMME
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