The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization does a lot of things, including set international standards, disseminate new ideas, and "help build human and industrial capacities in diverse fields." One of the organization's most important functions, in my opinion, is to set and protect cultural heritages, which are determined by the World Heritage Committee.
The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO has a wide range of criteria they use to determine world heritages, and France wants to add its cuisine to that list. According to AFP, though, not many people think this bid is going to go through, especially after the committee rejected a similar bid from Mexico a few years ago.
Sure, most of the World Heritages are physical places or arts and traditions associated with them. Most of the criteria that World Heritage Committee uses have to do with monuments or geological locations, but criteria number three leaves cuisine open, at least in my mind: to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
If national cuisine doesn't bear unique testimony to cultural tradition, I don't know what does. What do you think?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-06-2008 @ 1:09PM
Big John said...
Why not add every other major cuisine that has influenced cooking throughout the world as time has gone by? Italian? Why not Mexican? The list could keep on going. I don't see this one surviving.
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7-06-2008 @ 2:28PM
pete martin said...
I point out the UNESCO work on Intangible Heritage
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=EN&pg=home
Which is a sort of logical opposite to World Heritage Sites, for they wish to preserve the cultural heritage along the lines of:
* Oral traditions and expressions including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage;
* Performing arts (such as traditional music, dance and theatre);
* Social practices, rituals and festive events;
* Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
* Traditional craftsmanship.
Of which cuisine could be put in (following craftsmanshp and oral tradition).
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7-06-2008 @ 6:53PM
Da Vid said...
Are you kidding me?! I agree with Big John.
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7-06-2008 @ 7:02PM
GL said...
I agree with Big John.
Reply
7-07-2008 @ 6:16AM
Skip said...
I vote Yes ONLY IF South Carolina gets on the list with:::
Poke Salit
Hoppin jons
Kornbred
n' Sweet tee
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7-07-2008 @ 8:56AM
Gobo said...
The only way they could justify special 'world heritage' status is to demonstrate that French cuisine has been uniquely influential on other world cuisines through its development of things like mother sauces, cooking techniques, and French breads like baguettes. They might be able to make a case for it.
Skip, you could at least spell "tea" right.
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7-08-2008 @ 6:01AM
Skip said...
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7-07-2008 @ 8:56AM
Gobo said...
Skip, you could at least spell "tea" right.
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SKIP
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