Today in the world of haut-cuisine, the Spanish are indeed overtaking the French in terms of culinary innovation. They are being hallmarked as the vanguards of the new futuristic type of cooking, molecular gastronomy, however the Spanish government is making moves to preserve the traditional Mediterranean style cuisine that Spain is supposedly famed for.

World Heritage?
Joining the ranks of Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Greece and Morocco, the Spanish government is lobbying the UN to put the Mediterranean cuisine on the World Heritage List. This intangible list apparently protects cultural traditions such as the Festival of the Dead in Mexico, but does not currently have any diets on the list. Perhaps more importantly it will mean that the word 'Mediterranean' could be used as an effective marketing tool and give weight to products native to Spain and other countries on the Med, such as olive oil, ham, cheeses and so on.

A spokesman for Spain's agricultural ministry said that Spain is at the forefront of the campaign: "Spain took the initiative ... convinced that the characteristics of the Spanish culinary model par excellence make it clearly deserving of this UNESCO distinction."

UNESCO, who looks after the World Heritage List is reviewing the application to put the diet on its new "intangible cultural heritage" list, however others are questioning what exactly is the Mediterranean cuisine that is lauded as so healthy and worthy of "protection"?

Mediterranean Diet still Healthy?
Today, Spain is said to be battling a growing obesity "epidemic" much the same as the rest of Europe and today the Mediterranean diet might be summed up by lots of meat and little fruit and vegetables. The diet that is celebrated was originally discovered to be beneficial for health over 60 years ago by an American scientists who began to examine the correlation between health and diet. They found that the diet of Italians and Spaniards was high in fibre and low in fat, with a daily incorporation of lots of fish, fruit and vegetables. This fabled Mediterranean diet is also being touted as a good preventer of type-2, or adult-onset, diabetes.