3° Euro-Mediterranean Forum
Dialogues between Civilizations and People: The Food Cultures
30 September - 1 October 2005
Rector Hall, University of Rome La Sapienza
2005 Year of the Mediterranean
Italian Official Celebrations World Food Day 2005
"Agriculture And Intercultural Dialogue"
Under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic of Italy and Under the Auspices of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Representative Office in Italy of European Commission, III° EuroMediterranean Forum Dialogues Between Civilizations and People of the Mediterranean: The Food Cultures
30 September - 1 October, 2005
Rectorate Hall - University of Rome "La Sapienza"
Organized by
The Institute of Food Science and Nutrition of the University of Rome "La Sapienza"
Fondazione Universitas Italica
EuroMediterranean Network on Food Cultures
With the Technical Scientific Collaboration of Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari- CIHEAM
Following the International Conference "Food Traditions in the Mediterranean Monotheistic Religions", the 3rd EuroMediterranean Forum has the aim to highlight the central dimension and the strategic cross-cutting value of "food" through the Declaration of Barcelona, in direction of the revision of the future actions of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, that will be reviewed in Barcelona in Novembe, at the Extraordinary High Level Meeting for the 10th anniversary of the Declaration.
In the Mediterranean there is a spread awareness of the social, cultural, health and economic dimension of 'food', shared by all Mediterranean people. "Food" can be a meeting place of dialogue and exchange, very efficient for its cultural and economic importance that has in each single Mediterranean region. Mediterranean food cultures and the Mediterranean Diet are an outstanding resource which has not yet been fully acknowledged within the EuroMediterranean Partenariat towards an effective rural sustainable development and the achievement of a broader individual and community well being, in all Mediterranean countries.
The 3rd Forum has the purpose, in direction also of the creation in 2010 of the EuroMed Free Trade Area, to foster a critical dialogue among all participants on the strategic need to reach an updated common position on the "Mediterranean Diet" and on its "benefits". Its aim is to start to act together to try to defend from the increasing erosion the Mediterranean Food Cultures Heritage and related non sedentary healthy Mediterranean life style, as well as to reinforce the sustainability of the agro-food systems of all Mediterranean countries and the food security in the entire region. Today, the perception of the traditional "Mediterranean Diet" is more related only to a balanced quantity of nutrients, represented within a pyramidal structure, rather then to be associated also to a direct cultural expression of the Mediterranean healthy life.
From the recent reports of the Sustainable Impact Assessment (SIA) of the EuroMediterranean Free Trade Area (EMFTA) and from the Mediterranean Strategy on Sustainable Development (MSSD), it is already expected a decline in the Mediterranean's healthy diet patterns. They have both recommended, in order to counter this risk, that Mediterranean peoples, along with Europe, should endeavour, among other actions, to promote the "Mediterranean Diet" model.
The 3rd Forum has the overall purpose to activate the EuroMediterranean Network on Food Cultures to reinforce existing international collaborations and community-based alliances on the basis of common vision of a more equitable, compatible and effective sustainable development by revitalizing local capacities connected to the diversity of Mediterranean food cultures heritage in order to reduce its increasing erosion. The Euro-Med Network on Food Cultures should serve to foster a broader participation from the international community and in particular should facilitate educational and training activities addressed to young generations who are in the Mediterranean countries the highest majority of the consumer population. Young people should be considered also as sensitive food consumers at risk of overweight and obesity, as it was stressed recently by the European Commission.
A creative art approach may facilitate the informal methodological tool of the intercultural and transectorial dialogue that will be applied again at the 3rd EuroMed Forum to bypass the complexity of the challenging task to accomplish its objectives. It embraces an interdependent complex of global, national, local, collective and individual factors, bringing together at work academy, productive system, community, and governmental agencies, at both national and regional level.
The Third EuroMediterranean Forum, with its multicultural and interdisciplinary orientation, intends to stimulate exchanges of ideas concerning disciplines, institutions, communities and individuals, in an attempt to bring them closer together through the food cultures, the arts and the sciences, thus reinforcing the sense of mutual appreciation and respect that is essential particularly in the Mediterranean for living together and acknowledging the differences.
Objectives of the 3rd Forum EuroMed
- To sustain the cross-cutting value of "food" through the Barcelona Declaration, to be taken more into account in the development of the future actions of the EuroMed Partnership.
- To strengthen, towards the creation in 2010 of the EuroMed Free Trade Area,the Euro-Mediterranean, the dialogue on food security and internationalisation process by taking into high consideration social and environmental implications pointed out in the Sustainable Impact Assessment of EuroMed Free Trade Area and of the Mediterranean Strategy on Sustainable Development;
- To propose the diversity of the Mediterranean Food Cultures as main multifunctional factor for the sustainable development in the Mediterranean, by taking into account the reform of the European Common Agricultural Policy and of the Common Fisheries Policy;
- To revitalize local capacities in order to reduce the increasing erosion of the diversity of the Mediterranean food cultures heritage;
- To gather a strategic consensus towards a common updated position on the "Mediterranean Diet" and its "benefits" to be shared with equity in the entire Mediterranean region;
- To identify and to launch a series of projects for the EuroMediterranean Network on Food Cultures to ensure the sustainability of the Network; starting from the sectors of education, training, communication, and promotion;
- To contribute to the dissemination of the aims of the Barcelona Declaration and of the EuroMed Partnership.
The Programme
The programme, with an educational and informative focus designed for the general public, will be divided into two days of work and four thematic sessions, each led by an international project committee:
- Thematic Session 1: The Centrality and Transversality of "Food" in the Third Pillar of the Barcelona Declaration
- Thematic Session 2: The Diversity of Mediterranean Food Cultures as a Tool for Dialogue
- Thematic Session 3: Mediterranean Food Cultural Heritage: A Resource for Sustainable Development
- Thematic Session 4: The Enhancement and Redefinition of the Mediterranean Diet
International Scientific Committee
Ziad Abdeen
Director, Al-Quds Nutrition and Health Research Institute,
Al-Quds University, Abu Deis, West Bank
Francoise Aubaile-Sallenave
CNRS-National Museum of Natural History, Paris
Qasem Bassam
Director, Health Promotion and Protection in Jordanian Ministry of Health, Amman
Nino Battistini
University of Modena
Elliot Berry
Head of The Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health, & Director, Dept of Human Nutrition & Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, Jerusalem
Rekia Belahsen
Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Marocco
Giorgio Calabrese
Member CDA European Authority on Food Security, Bruxells/Parma
Vice President, Scientific Committee of I.N.R.A.N, Rome
Carlo Cannella,
Director, Institute of Food Science, University of Rome "La Sapienza"
Igor De Garine
Emeritus Director, CNRS, Lasseube, France
Carlo De Marco
Emeritus professor of Biochemical Science, University of Roma " La Sapienza"
Aldo Di Biaggio
Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Rome
Vicenzo Fersino
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute- Bari /CIHEAM
Joseph Fontano
National Academy of Dance, Rome
Luca Fornari
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome
Mario Giancotti
President, Universitas Italica Foundation, S.Pietro a Maida (Calabria) Italy
Cosimo Lacirignola
Director, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute- Bari /CIHEAM
Denis Lairon
Director, Human Nutrition Laboratory, UMR 476 INSERM/1260 INRA, Marseille, France
Aicha Lemtouni
Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan II, Rabat Morocco
E. Xavier Medina
Coordinator, Mediterranean Cultures, European Institute of the Mediterranean, Barcelona
Amer El-Fitouri Megri
Dean of the School of Agricolture, University of ElFaleh, Tripoli, Lybia
Andrea Panayides
Chairman, Education Reform Association, Cyprus
Gulden Pekcan
Head Community Nutrition Division, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
Giuseppe Rotilio
Chairman, Italian Society of Biochemistry, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"
Luis Serra Majem
Chairman, Foundation for the Advancement of the Mediterranean Diet, Barcelona
Director, Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Safaa E. Tawfik
National Institute of Nutrition, Giza, Egypt
Vito Teti
Director, Centre of Mediterranean Anthropology and Literatures
University of Calabria, Cosenza Italy
Antonia Trichopoulou
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Maria Manuela Valagao
National Institute of Agrarian Investigations, Lisbon
Coordinator:
Sandro Dernini
Focal Point, EuroMediterranean Network on Food Cultures, Rome
Chairman, Plexus International Forum Onlus, Cagliari (Sardinia) Italy
Partecipants:
Prof. Ziad Abdeen,
Direttore, Istituto di Nutrizione e Salute, Al-Quds University, West Bank
Prof. Elliot Berry,
Direttore, Dipartimento Di Nutrizione Umana, Hebrew University, Gerusalemme
Dr. M.ahmed Ben Abdallah
Ministero dell'Educazione, Tunisi
Prof. Mohamed Amr Hussein
National Institute of Nutrition, Cairo
Dr. Rim Arafeh
Assistente Segretario Generale Commissione Nazionale Siriana UNESCO, Damasco
Prof. Rekia Belahsen
Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Marocco
Prof. Igor de Gorine
Direttore, CNRS, Lasseube, Francia
Dr. Anthony De Giovanni
Assistente Direttore, Commissione Nazionale Maltese UNESCO, Malta
Dr. Manuela Galhardo
Segretario Generale Commissione Nazionale Portoghese UNESCO, Lisbona
Prof. Marceau Gast
Direttore, Istituto di Ricerche e Studi sul Mondo Arabo e Mussulmano, Aix-en-Provence
Prof. Mohammed Hocine Benkheira,
Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Parigi
Mrs. ZoFjia Klemen-Krek
Segretario Generale Commissione Slovena UNESCO, Lubiana
Dr. E. Xavier Medina
Coordinatore, Culture Alimentari, Institut Catala de la Mediterranea ICM, Barcellona
Prof. Amer El-Fitouri Megri
Preside, Facoltà Agraria, University EL-Faleh, Tripoli
Dr.Benalia Ounauki
Segretario Generale Commissione Nazionale Algerina UNESCO, Algeri
Dr. Andrea Panayides
Chief Education Officer, Ministry of Education and Culture, Cipro
Dr. Mervat Hamed M. Salem
Direttore, Dipartimento Educazione, Ministero della Cultura, Cairo
Dr. Francoise Aubaile-Sallenave
Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Parigi
Prof. Luis Serra Majem
Presidente, Fondazione per lo Sviluppo della Dieta Mediterranea, Barcellona
Dr. Safaa E. Tawfik
National Institute For Nutrition, Giza, Egitto
Prof. Ariel Toaff
Università Bar-Ilan, Ramat-Gan, Israele
Prof. Atonia Trichopoulou
Università di Atene, Atene
Prof. Maria Manuela Valagao
INIA, Lisbona
Dr. Irena Vangjeli
Ministero dell'Educazione, Tirana
Prof. Renato Guarini
Rettore, Università "La Sapienza" di Roma
Prof. Nino Battistini
Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Prof. Carlo Cannella
Direttore, Istituto Scienza dell'Alimentazione, Università "La Sapienza"Roma
Arch. Michele Capasso
Presidente, Fondazione Laboratorio Mediterraneo, Napoli
Dr. Pier Virgilio Dastoli
Direttore, Rappresentanza in Italia Commissione Europea, Roma
Prof. Carlo De Marco
Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
Dr. Sandro Dernini
Coordinatore, Rete EuroMediterranea sulle Culture Mediterranee, Roma
Cons. Luca Fornari
Responsabile, Programma Internazionalizzazione, Ministero Affari Esteri, Roma
Prof. Luigi Fratti
Pro-Rettore Vicario, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
Prof. Mario Giancotti
Presidente, Fondazione Universitas Italica, Roma
Amb. Manfredo Incisa di Camerana
Direttore Generale Aggiunto, FAO, Roma
Dr. Cosimo Lacirignola
Direttore, Istituto Agronomico Mediterraneo CIHEAM, Bari
Prof. Mario Mancini
Università "Federico II" di Napoli
Prof. Predrag Matvejevic
Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
Dr. Armando Montanari
Economista Rurale, Roma
Dr. Gianni Pastore
Istituto Nazionale Ricerca Alimenti e Nutrizione, Roma
Dr. Alice Perlini
Direttore Generale, Istituto Agronomico Oltremare, Firenze
Dr. Alessandra Pesce
Istituto Nazionale Economia Agraria, Roma
Dr. Graziella Picchi
Sociologa Rurale, Urbino
Cons. Riccardo Sessa
Direttore, Direzione Generale Mediterraneo, Ministero degli Esteri
Prof. Vito Teti
Direttore, Centro Letterature E Antropologie Mediterranee, Università della Calabria, Cosenza