(ANSA) - ROME, NOVEMBER 18 - Italy holds the world record for UNESCO awards in the agro-food sector: with 5 out of the 68 awarded globally, our country is in first place in the ranking.
Followed by Morocco with 4 Unesco recognitions, 3 for Turkey and Azerbaijan, 2 for Belgium, France, Spain, Tunisia, Japan, Korea and Mexico.
The rest are 1 each in the various other countries.
These are the data from the report on food and culture presented on the occasion of the conference organized in New York on the future of the Mediterranean diet and promoted by the Italian representation at the United Nations.
The data were presented by the
president of the UNESCO body of world experts Pier Luigi Petrillo
, professor of Cultural Heritage at Luiss Guido Carli and director of the Unesco Chair of the Unitelma Sapienza University.
As for the Unesco recognitions for agro-food "Italy, from this point of view, is a world power", says Petrillo, underlining that the 5 assigned are a substantial share out of the 15 total given to Italy in different categories.
A significant primacy, explains Petrillo, in this sector "which has become highly challenging, especially if one considers that food is increasingly an instrument of dialogue and diplomacy. It is precisely by focusing on the cultural dimension of food, among other things, that can beat the absurd 'traffic light' policy on food which is highly harmful to our typical products".
A good news,
underlines the expert again, on the day in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launches the week of Italian cuisine in the world.
In particular, he recalls, the 5 awards concern the Mediterranean diet, the art of Neapolitan pizza makers, the quarry and hunt for truffles, transhumance, the agricultural practice of growing sapling vines on Pantelleria.
And on the Mediterranean Diet: "The Unesco recognition marks an absolute turning point - says Petrillo - because since then food has been perceived by the world community not only as a product but as a cultural phenomenon and identity of a lifestyle, a way of to be".
The first recognition ever in Unesco history in the field of food and food practices.
In particular, he recalls, the 5 awards concern the Mediterranean Diet, the art of Neapolitan pizza makers, the quarry and hunt for truffles, transhumance, the agricultural practice of cultivating the sapling vines of Pantelleria.
And on the Mediterranean Diet: "The Unesco recognition marks an absolute turning point - says Petrillo - because since then food has been perceived by the world community not only as a product but as a cultural phenomenon and identity of a lifestyle, a way of to be".
The first recognition ever in Unesco history in the field of food and food practices.
In particular, he recalls, the 5 awards concern the Mediterranean Diet, the art of Neapolitan pizza makers, the quarry and hunt for truffles, transhumance, the agricultural practice of cultivating the sapling vines of Pantelleria.
And on the Mediterranean Diet: "The Unesco recognition marks an absolute turning point - says Petrillo - because since then food has been perceived by the world community not only as a product but as a cultural phenomenon and identity of a lifestyle, a way of to be".
The first recognition ever in Unesco history in the field of food and food practices.