Italian cuisine awarded Unesco cultural heritage status
The Unesco World Heritage Committee on Wednesday recognised Italian cuisine as an intangible cultural heritage. The decision "honours who we are and our identity", stressed Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose government proposed that the cucina italiana be added to the World Cultural Heritage list in 2023. Some commentators, however, say the accolade has a bitter aftertaste.
Variety is the spice of life
Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini explains the uniqueness of Italian cuisine in La Stampa:
“This is an extremely important achievement because it recognises the uniqueness of the Italian food system in which diversity plays a key role. Italian cuisine is anything but homogeneous, and its strength lies precisely in the variety of culinary specialities that have developed in this relatively small country surrounded by the Mediterranean. However, it is important to emphasise that Italian cuisine is not the sum of individual regional cuisines, but rather the result of centuries of continuous exchange that has profoundly shaped our gastronomic identity.”
Politically motivated stoking of national pride
NRC calls the UNESCO recognition of Italian cuisine into question:
“But this is less about the quality of pizza, pasta or risotto and more about concerns over the way in which the right-wing party Fratelli d'Italia has used the UNESCO campaign to stir up feelings of national pride, with party leader Meloni at the forefront. ... It is not wrong to promote Italy's culinary tradition, which is unique in many ways. But economic patriotism should not be confused with global cultural heritage policy, especially in these illiberal times.”