(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, FEBRUARY 22 - Safeguarding the sea by feeding the Mediterranean is the objective behind the 2019 edition of the Med Cooking Congress, the itinerant event that focuses on Mediterranean food to promote responsible consumption and typical products, highlighting the need to protect ecosystems and to follow European rules in the fishing sector.

The event scheduled on March 24-25 in Castellammare di Stabia will be attended by award-winning chefs from all over Italy.

''The ingredients to feed the Mediterranean are culinary culture, gastronomic tradition, the respect of the environment and preservation of the sea'', said Luisa Del Sorbo, the creator of the Med Cooking congress. ''We will bring these themes to the Mediterranean coasts. After previous editions in Spain and Croatia, in the fall we will be travelling to Greece to then return to Sicily'' with chefs from 10 Mediterranean countries as guests who will be travelling ''to the Strait of Messina, Taormina and Etna in Sicily''.

Water and fishing are the focus of 2019. The event will concentrate on the water resources of Italian coasts with specific marketing projects to invest in the preservation of such resources through research institutes, associations and specialized companies.

This edition will also vie to launch the candidature of 28 local springs as a Unesco world heritage site. Funds will also be raised for projects promoted by the association Mare Vivo and the environment ministry.

Local and national art and environmental associations, cooking schools from the area and from regions across Italy, the sector's producers and operators and high schools have been involved. Projects are already underway at institutes that train students to work in the hotel and restaurant business in southern Italy. After the event near Naples, the Med Cooking Congress will be in Venice on September 30, in Taormina on October 28 and in Greece on October 1. (ANSA).