In many cases, it is already there, whether in gastronomy, local products, or even heritage, even if those who live with it do not notice.
Now, the heritage of the Mediterranean Diet must be taken up and promoted, so that it can become a tourist product and help the economy. That's why the Mediterranean Diet Route (RDM) was born.
Restoration, handicrafts, products of the land and heritage are the four aspects of this route, which has been structured in a work coordinated by the association In Loco, but which directly involves various entities, the members of the Regional Commission of the Mediterranean Diet, responsible for the elaboration and dynamization of a Safeguarding Plan for this cultural heritage.
Most of them were present at the presentation of the RDM, which took place this Thursday at the premises of the Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR) of the Algarve, in Faro. This session served to present what has been achieved so far, but also what is intended to be done in the future.
The main objective of this network, which aims to be inclusive, is to take advantage of available resources, linked to this Algarve cultural heritage, and use them to increase the region's tourist attraction, innovate on traditional products and create jobs.
«We have everything needed to transform our Mediterranean Diet into another line of business and attraction of the Algarve», stated Artur Gregório, from In Loco, during the presentation of RDM. In Loco's project coordinator believes that this network can be a "weapon" to combat "the great scourge of the Algarve", which he considers to be "the strong seasonality", since, by structuring new offers and products, "we can achieve a greater dynamic all year round'.
At the moment, everything is ready to launch the route out here and there have already been 27 entities that have signed a protocol with the route and will be entitled to bear the RDM seal, which attests that the activity they develop "is representative of the Mediterranean Diet". Some of them already received this seal yesterday, at the end of the session.
The route will pass through the 16 Algarve municipalities, as In Loco insisted on finding “a minimum set of partners” in each municipality in the region.
Anyone who is officially recognized as an “ambassador” of the Mediterranean Diet in the Algarve has several advantages. The route, based on an application by CCDR do Algarve to PO Algarve 21 for 500 thousand euros, will function as a network and will have a central communication, in charge of the Algarve company LCPA.
This included the creation of a lot of promotional material, which will spread throughout the Algarve, but also other details, such as table placeholders and RDM menus, among others, that partners can use. Already in circulation, there is an advertisement for the route, on the rear window of two of the buses that connect Faro to the Airport, a campaign that will last three months.
But the main promotion space for this network and its members will be the route website, which is “in the process of being concluded, and should be out next week”, but which it is already possible to access, according to Luís Caracinha, from the LCPA. Here, those looking to learn more about the Algarve Mediterranean Diet can find out where there are partners on the route, where they are and what they have to offer.
In Tavira, which was the representative community of the winning application of the Portuguese Mediterranean Diet for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco, there will be two specific circuits, one more connected to the sea, the other more connected to inland areas. The same logic will be applied in the rest of the RDM, but in a global way, not council by council.
Communicate outwards and…inwards
In Loco was the entity responsible for the technical work in the field, and made an exhaustive survey of what is already in the field, related to the Mediterranean Diet, always with the perspective that it is «seen as a lifestyle and not just a diet'.
Despite this being a message that has been repeated in recent years, especially since the approval of the candidacy of the Mediterranean Diet for World Heritage, not everyone is aware of its transversality. Sometimes not even their "guardians".
“We went into many places where the Mediterranean Diet was present everywhere, but people told us they had nothing to do with it. We had to be the ones to point out and tell them that yes, they had”, said Artur Gregório.
This is one of the jobs that the different partners will dedicate themselves to, going forward. Also because the application to Community Funds for a new phase of the project is already in the pipeline, in this case with a view to its consolidation, "which will probably be the CCDR of the Algarve to present", according to the president of this entity, David Santos.
“This work cannot stop with the end of this Community Support Framework. We must continue to defend the Mediterranean Diet, even for its transversality», he added.
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