Is food a world treasure?

Today, UNESCO conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity, such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city. (Think Persepolis in Iran or the Pyramids of Giza). It also recognizes such cultural expressions, such as the storytelling of Kyrgyzstan, the sand designs of Vanuatu, the Ugandan craft of making bark cloth, the folk singing of Albania and ox-herding in Costa Rica, which are under threat of dying out.

The art of French cooking has a new advocate – a group of culinary experts called the French Mission for Food and Heritage Cultures, who are looking to persuade the UN to declare French gastronomy a world treasure.  There’s a familiar saying in France: L’Art de la table, an all encompassing phrase which describes a high-end experience in dining, cuisine and culture. It’s this experience they want to preserve. But so far, there is no category at UNESCO for gastronomy.

Others have also tried, but failed. In June, Spain revived its own initiative to win recognition of the health-conscious Mediterranean diet, based on olive oil, fish, grains, fruit, nuts and vegetables; Italy, Greece and Morocco swiftly joined the campaign. In Italy, Coldiretti, the Italian farmers’ association, even argued that Italy’s food heritage is superior to that of France, since the European Union recognizes 166 food specialties from Italy, but only 156 from France. Mexico’s application to honor its food traditions was rejected in 2005.

Making efforts to achieve this designation makes a lot of sense on different levels - it helps protect an indigenous culinary culture and can play an important role in branding a destination at a time of growing interest in culinary tourism.