On November 9th the Dante Alighieri Society of Michigan, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Chicago, in collaboration with the Federazione Abruzzese del Michigan, the Italian American Club of Livonia Charitable Foundation (IACLCF), under the auspices of the Consulate of Italy in Detroit presented: The Mediterranean Diet, an Italian-American Discovery useful for the Future, a conference and book discussion with prof. Elisabetta Moro and prof. Marino Niola.
Conviviality, seasonality, sustainability: these are the secrets of the Mediterranean diet, the foundation of a lifestyle that has conquered the world. The diet was discovered by two American scientists in the 1950s in the area between Naples and the Cilento.
Relying on symbolic foods of the Mediterranean triad – cereals, oil, wine – this “anti-diet” successfully combines the legacy of the classic world and local traditions. This book explores the diet’s sacred sites: Campania, Amalfi, Cetara (anchovies), Pozzuoli (the realm of seafood), Apulia (Tricase’s burnt grain pasta, Lecce’s almond paste), Lucania (ancient grains bread), Sicily (Favignana’s tuna, Palermo’s pancakes, Catania’s fried rice balls), not to mention Naples, Genoa and Venice.
Elisabetta Moro teaches Cultural Anthropology at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples.
Marino Niola teaches Anthropology of Symbols at the same university. Together they head the Mediterranean Diet Social Research Centre (MedEatResearch).