Sunshine, stone steps, and fig trees. As I walked down into the village, I was welcomed by several “Buongiorno Signorina” greetings from the windows.
“Did you sleep well?”
"Did you see how beautiful the sea is this morning?"
And smiles. Lots of smiles.
The aroma of coffee swept through the lively square, and I stop as I hear the voices in the castle on the left grow louder. Young adults chat and laugh as they prepare for award day. Today is their day, and they are in Pollica, the heart of Cilento – the heart of the Mediterranean diet.
Ten years after the Unesco recognition of the Mediterranean Diet as an intangible heritage of humanity, the Future Food Institute has chosen Pollica for its Food & Climate Shapers Boot Camp - Mediterranean Edition. Here young adults learn how to build models of sustainable development via conferences and a total immersion in the territory. This challenge was headed by Barilla with the aim of changing the world recipe after recipe.
Here, life is based on the care for the ecosystem, the territory, and the rural culture.
The Mediterranean diet was recognized by UNESCO ten years ago, but it was in the 1960s that Ancel Keys, a great medical researcher, discovered it. He recognized the healthy lifestyle of the people of Cilento and found the perfect place for his research not only for his research about nutrition, but also to live.
Delia was the doctor's personal chef during his time Cilento. When she asked him "What are you doing here in Pollica?| he used to answer “I also want to live until a hundred years old man.” And so it was, the professor died in 2004, after exactly one hundred years since his birth and after more than forty years living in Cilento.
Cilento is a land that guards traditions and biodiversity. It's famous for its centenarians who, meal after meal, hand down to their children and grandchildren the Mediterranean way of life: the products of the garden, legumes, eggs, fresh pasta, locally made cheese, bluefish and, of course, olive oil.
The meaning of the word diet contains the truth. It comes from the greek δίαιτα (diaita), which means lifestyle. So we are not talking about diet, but also good habits. Slowness, community life, an exchange of products and knowledge, physical activity, gardening – you'll be hard press to find a Cilentan who hasn't cultivated their land. Above all, they value rest and have respect for the terroir and the sea.
In his book The One‑Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka says that there are those who eat with their stomachs, respecting the sense of hunger, and there are those who eat with their brains, influenced by fashion and marketing. Cilentans eat with the heart.