During the second day of celebrations of the Mediterranean Diet, we tried to determine which elements can promote the sustainable development of a territory, with a specific focus on rural and marginalised areas, as found in many parts of Italy and Europe.
As usual, we began this reflection from the food sector, because it connects each of us to the land and to the way we use it.
The Voice of Women
We began by discussing women in agriculture. Why? Because 70% of the agricultural workforce in Italy is represented by women, yet, as often happens, they are not sufficiently represented.
This is why we invited Linda Carobbi, Co-Founder of the National Association of Women in Fruit and Vegetables, Business Development Manager & Co-Founder of TurismiAmo, to understand the importance that women can have in the development of a territory.
Founded in 2017, the National Association of Women in Fruit and Vegetables initially brought together 30 women who wanted to find ways to give a voice to women in agriculture, from those working in the fields to those involved in import-export: every part of the supply chain was represented.
Today, the association includes more than 100 women and actively works to bring this voice to a wider audience, including through the documentary film “Fertile”, which they will be filming in the coming months.
Solidarity and Conviviality
To understand what a sustainable territory means, we need to look back at the roots of this special land that is Pollica and Cilento, the cradle of the Mediterranean Diet.
This is precisely the work that Rossella Galletti, Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at Suor Orsola Benincasa University, together with the MedEatResearch Lab, has carried out over the previous years.
Through the research project “Possa Campà Cent’anni” (“May You Live a Hundred Years”), Rossella Galletti and her team interviewed elderly residents of Pollica and the surrounding area, aged between 90 and 103, with the aim of giving a voice to people who represent individual microcosms, sometimes closely connected to the Mediterranean Diet and sometimes more distant from it.
The aim was also to safeguard different ways of being in the world.
Every elderly person represents a precious heritage capable of transmitting important knowledge to future generations.
Four thematic areas emerged from the interviews: the garden, hunger, solidarity, preferred foods and conviviality.
Everyone had a garden where they grew fruit and vegetables for the entire year, as well as olive trees for oil production.
Solidarity and conviviality were fundamental elements in the daily lives of these people.
The words used by one interviewee, always expressed in the plural, are a testimony to this sense of togetherness:
“We used to work the land, we used to sing, we used to take care of the animals…”
Always together, never alone.
Finally, hunger, which at that time was very real, also emerged as an important aspect.
The importance of this research lies not simply in collecting information, but in passing on to future generations ideas and ways of life that are possible and that can contribute to a sustainable future.
Sustainable Territory
As we have seen, a sustainable territory depends on the knowledge we have of it, both historically and in everyday life.
This is the approach that Antonio Pellegrino, representative of the Social Cooperative “Terra di Resilienza”, emphasised most strongly and which has become central to his work.
Starting from the land, his land, Cilento, means understanding all the layers that have shaped it throughout history.
Antonio recognises the presence of an infinite number of imaginaries that influence our daily lives.
“The imaginaries of our age are enhanced to an unbelievable degree. Imaginaries are the ones that allow us to orient ourselves in everyday life. Living here in Cilento meant receiving an imaginary that came from outside. Linked to developmentalism, to valorisation, to the word, to nomos, to planning, to a whole series of functions in the rural territories.”
Antonio Pellegrino, Terra di Resilienza
These imaginaries must not distract our attention from what the land really is.
We need to reach the substance of things:
“We talk a lot about permaculture today, but what is the dry stone wall that you can find in every corner of Cilento, if not permaculture?”
We need to keep our eyes open and allow our gaze to return to the history of a place in order to understand the present and build a sustainable future.
