This is where the term Mediterranean Diet was created, and the primacy of the land offers so much more. From olive ammaccate to the cacioricotta, from Menaica anchovies to the white artichoke, here are the must know local products from Cilento to taste and buy.
Cilento is a precious land where no family is without a small piece of land to cultivate. It’s thanks to each of these families that over time Cilento has preserved and maintained an incredible biodiversity, almost unique to Italy, making it worthy of the following awards. After being included as the first National Park of a cultural landscape in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997, it became a Biosphere Reserve in 2010, followed by the Intangible Heritage of Humanity of the Mediterranean Diet and finally in 2011 Geopark.
The Mediterranean diet from Cilento
It is an economy still partly based on self-sufficiency, not so much as a question of saving money as for the quality and authenticity of the products: for a Cilento nothing is more certain than what is harvested from its crops. So, here are some of the products that have made this land an example and source of inspiration for American doctors such as Ancel Keys, who coined the term Mediterranean Diet here. There is however a distinction that must be made: some are still widespread all over as an integral part of Cilento's diet, therefore available and enjoyed in all homes, others however are in danger of extinction, protected by Slow Food Presidium. Several are also part of BRODO, a network of producers united through respect for the territory and its biodiversity headed by Francesco Vastola of Maida. The project will be presented on July 6 at the restaurant Le Trabe Tenuta Capodifiume in Capaccio when during the event a prize will be awarded to women who have contributed to the story and promotion of Cilento around the world.