Comments on: UNESCO Culinary Heritage Sites http://www.ediblegeography.com/unesco-culinary-heritage-sites/ Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:05:04 +0000 hourly 1 By: Harriet Deacon http://www.ediblegeography.com/unesco-culinary-heritage-sites/comment-page-1/#comment-526 Harriet Deacon Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:14:14 +0000 http://www.ediblegeography.com/?p=2911#comment-526 This is an issue of great interest to me. In my view, culinary practices, whether as part of every day existence or ritual events, are part of our intangible heritage. The domains specified in the 2003 Convention on Intangible Heritage are not meant to be exhaustive, and culinary practices certainly qualify under the broad definition of ICH. The fact that there is no specific category for culinary practices is immaterial, if you will excuse the pun. As I understand it the main barrier to entry of culinary traditions on the Convention's lists to date has been that nominations for culinary practices have been rather too broad. You need to be able to document the practice of a specific culinary tradition, or linked set of practices, over time and space. Historically, there has been a focus on performing arts, and crafts, as intangible heritage, so it's not surprising that they currently dominate the lists. The debate about culinary traditions as national or regional heritage is an important and meaningful one, but it's also quite a new debate in some contexts and needs some extra attention as a result. I do think that with careful research and proper attention to the requirements of the nomination process, culinary traditions can be included in the future. Perhaps UNESCO or interested NGOs need to host more workshops on this issue. Culinary NGOs should certainly be registering with the Convention's list of approved NGOs and participating in the inter-governmental meetings. This is an issue of great interest to me. In my view, culinary practices, whether as part of every day existence or ritual events, are part of our intangible heritage.

The domains specified in the 2003 Convention on Intangible Heritage are not meant to be exhaustive, and culinary practices certainly qualify under the broad definition of ICH. The fact that there is no specific category for culinary practices is immaterial, if you will excuse the pun.

As I understand it the main barrier to entry of culinary traditions on the Convention’s lists to date has been that nominations for culinary practices have been rather too broad. You need to be able to document the practice of a specific culinary tradition, or linked set of practices, over time and space.

Historically, there has been a focus on performing arts, and crafts, as intangible heritage, so it’s not surprising that they currently dominate the lists. The debate about culinary traditions as national or regional heritage is an important and meaningful one, but it’s also quite a new debate in some contexts and needs some extra attention as a result.

I do think that with careful research and proper attention to the requirements of the nomination process, culinary traditions can be included in the future. Perhaps UNESCO or interested NGOs need to host more workshops on this issue. Culinary NGOs should certainly be registering with the Convention’s list of approved NGOs and participating in the inter-governmental meetings.

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