The Mediterranen diet is a feeding regime based on the abundance of vegetable products, on the use of olive oil as condiment, on the moderate consumption of meat and animal fats.
A diet that’s popular in the coastal towns of the Mediterranean sea, and studied by the American physiologist Ancel Keys.
But few people know that the doctor Keys lived many years of his life in Cilento, in Pioppi, where he bought a house and where he died at the age of 101 – to prove that his studies were credible.
So the Cilento is one of the countries of the Mediterranean diet, the one preferred by its founder: good and healthy, these are the standards of the cilentan diet and the cilentan cuisine.
First of all fruit and vegetables. The Cilento is rich in it, starting with the famous speciality, the white fig, that is eaten fresh in season and dried throughout the year.
Then the legumes, from the Controne’s beans, a great speciality, to the Cicerale’s chickpeas (the vegetable gave its name to the town).
Then there’s the oil, another great cilentan speciality, so great that it have obtained the DOP, the protected designation of origin, that assures levels of production controlled and high quality.
Is a tasty oil but it has a low acidity, it’s an high quality oil that is produced in the entire area.Infact the oil is the true protagonist of the cilentan landscape from the coast to the inland.
The most famous product, however, is probably mozzarella, which is made with milk of buffalos, that are raised here and in the nearby Piana del Sele.
Some of the most famouse dairies, such as Vannulo, are located between Capaccio and Agropoli.
But mozzarella in the mortella, a speciality obtained with cow’s milk, is typical of the Cilento.
Toghether with these products, of high quality and high notoriety (and don’t forget the wine, which today has reached high-levels thanks to wise producers), there are niche produtcs, some certified with the prestigious title of slow food presidia.
We have already mentioned chickpeas and beans, but there are many other products in this area, from the sopressata of Gioi Cilento, to cacioricotta, up to magnificent anchovies of Menaica, a quality of anchovies fished with ancient techniques, a rare and high quality product.
So, paraphrasing the slow food, here you eat good, clean and fair. That’s why we live up to 101 years!
