The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) commemorates every year the World Food Day on 16 October. The events, organised around the world, aim to promote awareness of hunger and highlight the need to ensure food security and a nutritious diet for all.
The Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation would like to contribute to this commemoration by dedicating this week's 'Reflections' to the Mediterranean dietdeclared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010 for the health-giving properties attributed to it. We therefore offer a series of bibliographical recommendations on this subject, as well as a culinary demonstration by the prestigious Moroccan chef Moha Fedal, a forerunner in the renewal of Moroccan cuisine.
Video: Quail pie and foie gras couscous with argan oil by Chef Moha Fedal
A graduate of the Geneva School of Hotel Management, Moha Fedal developed his professional career in Switzerland for 14 years and has given master classes around the world. As an ambassador of Moroccan gastronomy, Chef Moha's ambition is to achieve World Heritage status for his cuisine. In the recipes offered in this video, Chef Moha combines his knowledge of traditional Moroccan gastronomy with innovative elements such as the use of foie gras and argan oil. The practices linked to argan oil were declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco in 2014.
This event was part of the Cultural Week dedicated to Morocco, organised in 2014 by the Three Cultures Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Moroccans Living Abroad and Migration Affairs.
Publications on the Mediterranean diet at the Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation
Flavours of the Mediterranean
The 'Sabores' collection of Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterráneo, dedicated to Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, was born with the aim of transcending traditional cookbooks, offering an explanation of the origin, extension, evolution, etc. of a food and the multiple ways of preparing and consuming it. Three volumes of this collection have been published to date.
.1_ The adventures of couscous. Hadjira Mouhoud and Claudine Rabaa (Editions de l'Orient et du Méditerranéen, Vol. 1, 2004)
The famous geographer and traveller Al-Idrisi already recorded in one of his works a couscous recipe that has remained unchanged for eight centuries. The first volume of this collection thus traces the history of this food, from the sowing of the first durum wheat to the traces of the first couscous, as well as its different uses in different regions of the world. This volume also includes numerous recipes for cooking couscous, from traditional recipes such as the famous lamb couscous to lesser-known ones such as autumn couscous with skate, barley couscous with lumps of curdled milk, and winter couscous with fennel leaves. Recommendations on how to prepare and cook the grain and the best cooking utensils make this booklet a useful manual for anyone interested in learning the ins and outs of a food that has transcended the borders of the Mediterranean to become part of international gastronomy.
.2_ Chickpea treaty. Robert Bistolfi and Farouk Mardam-Bey (Editions de l'Orient et du Méditerranéen, Vol. 2, 2006)
A paradise for chickpea lovers, this book covers in detail a wide range of topics related to this legume, from its qualities and varieties, to ways of preserving and cooking them and the appropriate measures to take when cooking them. The recipes are suitable for all types of diners, both vegetarians and fans of offal, and include appetizers, salads, purées, soups and main courses, not forgetting desserts such as cakes and fritters. Roman-style soup, harira, shad with chickpeas and turmeric, lamb trotters tayine, stuffed tripe, chickpeas with coconut, Lent kefta, chutney or churros... the reader will find here an endless number of recipes to enjoy one of the main protagonists of the Mediterranean diet. This volume also traces a historical journey through the life of the chickpea, from Plato to Sartre and from Harun al-Rashid to Charlemagne.
.3_ Drinking and Eating in the Mediterranean. Paul Balta (Editions de l'Orient et du Méditerranéen, Vol. 3, 2007)
This book takes a journey through good drinking and eating throughout the Mediterranean, stopping at the variety of its wines such as wine, beer, arak, raki and ouzo, without missing bibliographical and historical references, such as mentions of the vine and wine in the Old Testament or the development among Muslims of a brilliant bacchic poetry. In this sea of diversity there is room for Lebanese specialities such as kebbe nayye, falafel and sambusak (stuffed fritters); Egyptian recipes such as ful or simmered beans; Jewish cuisine with recipes such as cholent with kishke (veal over a very low heat) and others that are more familiar to us such as tabbule, risotto, Valencian paella and Neapolitan sauce.
The book also includes instructions on how to mash, chop, flake and stuff with recipes for making moussaka or vine-leaf dolma, not forgetting a section on sweets, confectionery, cakes and confectionery. Finally, a chapter is devoted to the agri-food industry, globalisation and the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.
Mediterranean food. History, culture, nutrition. VV. AA. (Institut Català de la Mediterrània, 1996)
"Food is one of the richest aspects of culture. To talk about food in a specific area such as the Mediterranean is a rather complex objective and one which raises a multitude of questions and clichés which, in short, reveal a significant lack of background information on the subject. This book is born with an interdisciplinary, open and demystifying aim: to offer clear and necessary information on the different aspects surrounding what is known as Mediterranean food" (Institut Català de la Mediterrània).
Red and green. Food and cuisines in Morocco. VV AA. (Ediciones TREA, 2007)
"Between 1998 and 2001, research was carried out - based on intensive fieldwork in twelve localities - with the aim of delving into the culinary and food situation in Morocco, at a time when the country is undergoing important changes in food production and distribution, with the consequent opening up to globalisation and the alteration in market networks and sales systems and in the conceptualisation of cuisine as a result of the development of tourism and the spread of ethnic cuisines. The diet in its evolution, rhythm and seasonality; the preparation and preservation of food; culinary learning; ritual meals and cuisines or behaviour, attitudes and opinions with respect to food are analysed in this work that provides us with the most complete vision of the tradition and modernity of the current cuisine of the neighbouring country" (Ediciones TREA).
All the material recommended in this section is available on the website of the Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation (www.tresculturas.org) or in our specialised library, which also offers the possibility of collective loans of some of the works mentioned above (for more information: http://www.tresculturas.org/club/PAUTAS.pdf). The opening hours are Monday to Friday from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm and Wednesdays from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm.
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