Traditional Foods

The Traditional Foods Program is a series of projects, conferences, and events hosted by Oldways to promote the health, cultural values, and sensory pleasures of traditional foods and drinks produced in "the old ways." The Traditional Foods Program seeks to preserve and promote artesian foods that are part of the Mediterranean Diet and represent a particular regional identity and tradition.

Oldways aims to throw a bright light onto the traditional foods that make up traditional diets to encourage re-thinking of outdated and perhaps even incorrect beliefs about them. One approach in facing the even greater challenge of encouraging and enabling people to eat better is to look back over our shoulders at how our forebears ate.

Since 1991, Oldways has brought journalists, importers, retailers, and chefs from all over the country to explore the countries and regions where traditional products, preparations, and culinary interests originate. The results of these symposia and conferences go well beyond the participants. Their messages are taken back home and shared among patients, consumers, shoppers, friends, and family.

In November 2005, Oldways launched the first culinaria travel program. Sicilia Culinaria, the debut food and wine tour, was led by Ana Sortun, the James Beard Award-winning chef from Oleana in Cambridge, MA, and her husband, Chris Kurth, the farmer at Siena Farm in Sudbury, MA. Oldways will continue to partner with well-known retailers and chefs from all over the country to explore the areas of Europe where their products and/or culinary interests originate. These voyages will include hands-on cooking classes and demonstrations, along with wineries, farms, historical landmarks, and visits to restaurants known for their regions' cuisine.

Recent trips include journeys to Piedmont and Tuscany with great chefs and retailers including Ishan Gurdal of Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and Boston, MA, and Jody Adams from Rialto in Cambridge, MA. Another culinary program is planned for December 1-10, 2008 for Marrakech and Fed in Morocco.