At the press conference to present the event, which was created in 2013 and was not held for two years due to the pandemic, the mayor of Tavira, Ana Paula Martins, recalled that it began even before the candidacy of seven countries in the Mediterranean basin, of which the Algarve city is the representative community in Portugal, was approved by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

“The Mediterranean Diet Fair began a few years ago, even before we were recognised by UNESCO, with the aim of promoting this ancient heritage, common to the peoples living in the Mediterranean basin”, stated the mayor at the presentation of the Fair, held at the Town Hall.

Ana Paula Martins highlighted that after a “timid” start which was “very different from the current edition”, the event has grown and now has 170 exhibitors, both institutional (45) and from the agri-food and craft sectors (125).

These exhibitors will be spread throughout the historic centre of the city, which is also a reminder of a past marked by Mediterranean cultures, such as the Phoenician, Roman, and Arab, she said.

“The fair has been growing, not only to create more entertainment, but because we felt the need to grow, to make it known to people, because as we all know, intangible heritage is not like tangible heritage, it is a set of knowledge and traditions that we have to pass on from generation to generation, and that is why the fair has been growing”, she explained.

The mayor stressed that the Mediterranean diet “is not restricted to gastronomy” and the fair “is more than food”, and that since its creation it has been “improving” and counting on an increasing number of exhibitors, artists, and partners, such as the Algarve Regional Coordination Commission (CCDR), Algarve Tourism, the University of Algarve, the In-Loco Association and hotel schools.

“We started with one stage, now we have three, we started with maybe 100 exhibitors, now we have 170, we started with just fado and then we started introducing other intangible heritages that are also part of the fair, such as the Podence Caretos, the Dom Roberto Theatre, the Alentejo cante, and all of this has obviously gained in size and made the fair what it is today”, she argued.