Commune of Chefchaouen
The Commune of Chefchaouen has been the leader since the beginning of all the work created around the Mediterranean Diet of Chefchaouen. It participated in the presentation of the candidacy to UNESCO, it is an active member of the network of Emblematic Communities, it has developed an action plan for the promotion of the Mediterranean Diet, it has carried out various dissemination and awareness activities, and is in the process of setting up the Museum of the Mediterranean Diet of Chefchaouen, financed by the APDN (Agency for the Promotion and Development of the North) as well as a Territorial Quality Mark called “Chefchaouen-Mediterranean Diet.”
Talassemtane Association for the Environment and Development (ATED) and Chefchaouen Development Association (ADL)
The ATED and ADL are valuable partners from civil society who have supported the process of Chefchaouen’s candidacy as an Emblematic Community since the beginning. Both have been working for many years to promote local and regional products, including the creation and support of cooperatives that produce products, both food and handicrafts.
They are aware of the richness present in their territory, these actors have associated with the consulting firm Diversities & Development (D&D) by bringing its great experience and technical resources, has created the documents and strategic plans necessary for the development of all these lines of work. D&D also defined and supervised all research and consulted with resource persons in the Chefchaouen area.
D&D and ATED have prepared and carried out, in collaboration with a local team, a project that inventories the existing heritage in the region while promoting the intergenerational transmission of this heritage. It is a living account of Chefchaouen, which will be fed over time and enriched through in-depth research on each of the heritage elements it presents.
The region of Chefchaouen, enclosed in the mountains of the Jbala region of the Western Rif, has preserved a thousand-year-old cultural heritage and local know-how, transmitted from generation to generation for centuries.
All of this knowledge and these practices particular to the region are intimately linked to the need to survive and adapt to the mountainous environment, and allow the population to live from agriculture, livestock, and culinary diversity.
The Chefchaouen region has the particularity of sustaining many agri-food traditions, but, like so many others, it must also deal with the many changes in lifestyle of its inhabitants. These changes can accelerate the disappearance of age-old local know-how in a few generations, unless they are protected.
However, there are still many fields to be explored by students and researchers who wish to take up certain aspects and discover the treasures that the ancient traditions of our region still hold.
