Recently, the Mediterranean Diet and the concept of sustainability are often associated, to seal and give importance to this combination there are now two publications of CIHEAM in Paris and its Italian seat of Bari.

The first publication is titled “MediTerra – La dieta mediterranea per uno sviluppo regionale sostenibile” and is a summary, in Italian, of the report “MediTerra 2012: the Mediterranean Diet for Sustainable Regional Development”, with the editorial coordination of Roberto Capone.

The report brings together 22 contributions, from 49 international experts, dealing with the following major themes: origins and construction of the Mediterranean diet, food and socio-cultural dynamics, environment and biodiversity, social responsibility of actors, food producers and distributors, law and trade, health and food safety, and public policies and measures.

As was the case in previous editions, this edition of MediTerra proposes assessment criteria and analyses both for the general public and for the community of actors operating in the Mediterranean region. It is intended both as learning material and as a catalyst for decision-making.

More broadly, MediTerra aims to make the topics of agriculture and food the focus of scientific debate and of policies on the Mediterranean and to centre the debate on food security and agricultural development throughout the world on this strategic region.

The second publication, which was introduced by Cosimo Lacirignola, Secretary General of CIHEAM and director of its Italian seat, and edited by Roberto Capone and Stefania Lapedota, is entitled “Dieta Mediterranea – Modello di alimentazione sostenibileMediterranean Diet - Sustainable food consumption pattern.

It describes the Mediterranean Diet as a cultural resource for sustainable development in the Mediterranean and as an integral part of the social, historical, economic, artistic and landscape heritageof the peoples of the region.

The Mediterranean Diet represents an important lifestyle, both as a common heritage of the whole area and as an expression of individual communities that it comprises. The publication also highlights how this food consumption pattern, thanks to the variety of products and the possibility to combine a very wide range of flavours that meet the tastes of millions of consumers, is not only a way of eating, but the expression of an entire cultural system characterized by healthiness, food quality and territorial specificity.

An eating pattern appreciated in much of the world and that is absolutely to be safeguarded.

The download of the two publications is Free of charge from the website: dietamediterranea.iamb.it