As a PSU Alum and SALC Learner, I am grateful for all that I have experienced in PSU classes, and how those experiences have enhanced my travels. This summer I spent a month in the multicultural city of Marseille. With its port on the Mediterranean, and a 40% Algerian, North African and Sub Saharan African population, Marseille felt exciting and intriguing. Thanks to my early classes in the 1960s with the Middle East Studies Center, I felt at home.
The Old Port of Marseille looks out to the Mediterranean
The Algerian cafes, with their eastern pastries, rococo decor, popular Arab music, and the friendly hubbub of Arabic voices, felt familiar. The Arab Marche du Soliel was a delight, with Islamic-influenced sportswear, feminine clothing, and stunning jewelry. The henna designs, Moroccan pottery, and home goods tempt shoppers from all over. The couscous dinners were hearty and delicious, and Alladin’s Spice Store was an opportunity to bring North Africa home to my kitchen.
Here is a paella cooking on a wood fire on the sidewalk, tempting passersby to lunch. Paella is a Mediterranean staple.
The Mediterranean Diet
One of the exhibits at the large Museum of the Mediterranean, which is poised at the edge of the sea, is a tribute to the Mediterranean Diet. This Diet, which was “discovered” in North America and Western Europe in the 1970s, was promoted in these areas as a healthy alternative to the highly processed, fatty, sweet, and salty foods that had become popular after the Second World War. The Mediterranean Diet, based on olive oil, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, and shellfish (foods indigenous to the region), has been the staple diet of this region for centuries. The Museum’s displays of ancient amphora depicting mills, the olive harvest, and oil processing, confirm the importance of these products for millennia. For an interesting take on this subject, check out this article in the January 6, 2023 issue of The New York Times: The Mediterranean Diet Really Is That Good for You. Here’s Why.
Greek plate with an example of the Mediterranean Diet
BAYA: AN ALGERIAN FOLK PAINTER AND LEGEND
The Old Charity Museum, an impressive charity hospital built by King Louis XIV of France, offered a large retrospective exhibit on Baya, an Algerian artist. Baya, who was self-taught, started painting at age 12. Her Algerian themes of women depicted as mother goddesses in traditional dress, villages, gardens, fruits, flowers, animals, and traditional musical instruments, were her visual vocabulary. Her works present a magic feminine utopia of fecundity, hope, charm, and beauty. Her rich imagination and masterful command of color shine through every painting.
She was “discovered” by Picasso and other modern artists, who tried to influence her work but failed, as she resisted their attempts to alter her unique folk style and themes. She is a folk hero to millions. My years of Art History at PSU taught me to look carefully and think deeply at her paintings.
Here is a good article about Baya
Baya’s paintings offer feminine themes, animals, insects, fruits, and flowers.
Most of all I relished the views of the Mediterranean which has linked so many countries over the centuries. I remembered all that I learned in Dr. Armantrout’s Ancient History classes, how this region enjoyed a thriving international trade that linked them all from ancient times to today. I imagined the early Phoenician traders braving the risky waters, traveling to connect Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, Sicily, and Turkey. The flourishing artistic cross-fertilization those traders enabled can be seen in the Old Charity Museum’s collection of artifacts.
This entrancing Greek vase was one of the great treasures of Marseille!
The ruins of Empuries on The Costa Brava at L’Escala, another Greek trading port.
The small town of L’Escala on Spain’s Costa Brava was our next visit for two weeks. I gazed out to sea from the Greek and Roman ruins there, set like jewels in a pine forest park with beaches. I imagined how all the ports in the Mediterranean were once connected here. And I thought about their common history, diet, art, deeper culture, and solidarity which continues to this day.