When cuisine means more than food

Italian cuisine was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list earlier this month. Here’s what the recognition entails and how Rome marked the moment.

On December 10, Italian cuisine was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The recognition extends beyond pasta asciutta, pizza or any single dish under the Italian sun: it celebrates what the cuisine truly represents − culture, identity, history and tradition.

The announcement was made during the 20th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in New Delhi, India.

The news was welcomed across Italy with pride and enthusiasm. While Neapolitan pizza-making and the Mediterranean diet (which includes Italian culinary traditions) were already recognised by UNESCO, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had been advocating since March 2023 for Italy’s entire cuisine to receive this distinction.

Read the full story on Times2.

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