263Abstract
Malnutrition, in its two contradictory aspects con-
cerning undernutrition and unbalanced overnutri-
tion, is becoming one of the main threats to the
worldwide population. This calls for a radical
change on how food is daily produced, thought and
managed. New food behaviours are to be developed,
proposed and disseminated in order to actively com-
bat both hunger and the growing phenomenon of
obesity in the framework of sustainable food sys-
tems. In this context, the Mediterranean diet repre-
sents a very effective model of sustainable diet.
Characterized by a healthy nutritional model, rich
in olive oil, whole grains, fish, fruits and vegetables
and (a little) wine, the Mediterranean diets are
based on respect for the territory and on activities
performed by local communities including crop har-
vesting, fishing, conservation, processing, prepara-
tion and consumption of food. One of the main
peculiarities of the Mediterranean diets is the rele-
vance of biodiversity. The Mediterranean Basin has
a high heterogeneity of cultures and a high biodi-
versity. Epidemiological studies have drawn atten-
tion to certain traditional Mediterranean diets which
present a high variety of plant- and animal-derived
foods that favour better nutritional conditions. Sci-
entific investigation on this kind of diet and more
generally on sustainable food systems and diet re-
quires a new holistic vision of research and innova-
tion, based on a pro-active and very participative
approach involving stakeholders. This also requires
to strongly support independent and transparent re-
search and innovation, open to the public and not
subject to economic speculation in order to appro-
priately respond to the big worldwide questions
about the food.
- Introduction
Food security represents a multifaceted issue grip-
ping the world, intimately linked to the big chal-
lenges humanity faces in the coming years. Proper
food production and supply as well as correct and
balanced diets for all are crucial and closely asso-
ciated to a new ecological vision of development
based on sustainability principles. Malnutrition, in
its two contradictory aspects concerning undernu-
trition and unbalanced overnutrition, is dramatically
rising, becoming one of the main threats to the
worldwide population. Often coexisting in the same
geographical area, it is the result of different food
habits, among different social status and between
old and new generations. The World Health Organ-
ization refers that 35 million of the 4 3 million over-
weight children live in developing countries, mainly
in Asia but the fastest growth rates are registering
in Africa (De Oniset al., 2010). The contradiction
more shocking is that, at the same time, hungry and
undernourished are rising worldwide. According to
the recent estimate of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO, 2009; UNEP, 2009), between
1990 and 2000, the number of people that live with
insufficient food has increased by 34 million only in
sub-Saharan Africa. In this way, food insecurity and
undernourishment are now present in different
countries in the world as well as conditions of over-
weight and obesity and vitamin and mineral defi-
ciencies. It should be noted that, over the past two
decades, food trade liberalization policy has gener-
ated dramatic implications for health, facilitating
the “nutrition transition” towards unsustainable
models (Kearney, 2010). Going back in the time, it
should also highlight that the so-called "green rev-
olution", while helping to reduce world hunger, has
also produced significant negative impacts on the
environment. The productivity of the main agricul-
ture crops increased up to 4–5 times (Conway, 1997;
Tilmanet al., 2002; Pimentel and Pimentel, 2008),
but the consequences were very high on soil (Shiva,
2002), biodiversity, energy input use (Pimentel and
Pimentel, 2008), water use (Molden, 2007), nega-
tively impacting, among others, traditional rural
livelihoods, indigenous and local cultures, acceler-
ating indebtedness among millions of farmers and
separating them from lands that have historically