Eating together is the foundation of the cultural identity and continuity of communities throughout the Mediterranean basin.

UNESCO: Mediterranean diet

Many countries in the Mediterranean basin could face a future of significant food and water shortages as climate change bites and deserts spread.

CNN: Desertification: How to stop the shifting sands

They are following in the footsteps of earlier generations who came in the 1960s, when so-called guest workers from the Mediterranean Basin were invited to spur West Germany's booming postwar economy.

WSJ: Southern Europe Job Seekers Head for Germany