The recent inclusion of Italian cuisine as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO transcends the simple mention of iconic dishes. This designation celebrates the cultural and social essence of Italy: ritual, coexistence and love transmitted in the act of cooking and sharing a meal.
It is a recognition of the sustainability, biocultural diversity and, above all, to the tradition that turns the family lunch and the teaching of the nonnas in a powerful expression of national identityreaffirming its global impact not only culinary, but also economic and educational.
Recognized and appreciated gastronomy
Italian food is known and appreciated around the world for its fresh ingredients and flavors that delight the palate. On Wednesday, the U.N. cultural agency gave food lovers another reason to celebrate pizza, pasta and tiramisu by including Italian cuisine as part of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage.
UNESCO added the rituals surrounding the preparation and consumption of Italian food to its list of traditional practices and expressions of the world. This designation is celebrated alongside the more well-known UNESCO World Heritage list, in which Italy is well represented with places such as the Colosseum in Rome and the ancient city of Pompeii.
The quote did not mention specific dishes, recipes or regional specialties, but highlighted the cultural importance that Italians place on the rituals of cooking and eating: the family Sunday lunch, the tradition of grandmothers teaching grandchildren how to fold tortellini dough in a certain way, even the act of coming together to share a meal.
“Cooking is a gesture of love, a way of telling others something about ourselves and how we care for others,” said Pier Luigi Petrillo, member of the Italian UNESCO campaign and professor at the Unitelma Sapienza University of Rome and the Luiss Guido Carli University.
“This tradition of being at the table, of stopping for a while at lunch, a little longer at dinner and even longer on big occasions, is not very common in the world,” he said.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed the designation, which she said honors Italians and their national identity.
“Because for us, Italians, cooking is not just food or a recipe book. It is much more: it is culture, tradition, work, wealth,” he declared.
Many gastronomic cultures gain recognition
This is not the first time that a country’s gastronomy has been recognized as a cultural expression: in 2010, UNESCO included the “gastronomic food of the French” on the list of intangible heritage of humanity, highlighting the French custom of celebrating important moments with food.
In recent years, other national cuisines and cultural practices around them have also been added: the “cider culture” of the Asturian region of Spain, the Ceebu Jen culinary tradition of Senegal, the traditional way of making cheese in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
UNESCO meets each year to consider adding new candidates to its intangible heritage lists. There are three types: a representative list, another listing practices in urgent need of safeguarding, and the third, a list of good safeguarding practices.
This year, the committee meeting in New Delhi considered 53 nominations for the representative list, which already had 788 items. Other nominations included Swiss yodeling, the hand-weaving technique used to make Tangail saris from Bangladesh, and family circuses from Chile.
An Italian campaign focused on sustainability and diversity
In its proposal, Italy emphasized the sustainability and biocultural diversity of its gastronomy. Its campaign highlighted how simple Italian cuisine valued seasonality, fresh produce and waste reduction, while its variety highlighted regional culinary differences and influences from migrants and others.
“For me, Italian cuisine is the best, the high-end. The number one. Nothing compares,” said Francesco Lenzi, a pasta cook at Rome’s Osteria da Fortunata restaurant near Piazza Navona. “There are people who say, ‘No, spaghetti comes from China.’ Well, okay, but here we have turned noodles into a global phenomenon. Today, wherever you go in the world, everyone knows the word spaghetti. Everyone knows pizza.”
Lenzi attributed his passion to his grandmother, the “queen of this big house by the sea” in Camogli, a small town on the Ligurian coast where he grew up. “I remember that on Sundays I made ravioli with a rolling pin.”
“This stayed with me for many years,” he said in the restaurant kitchen.
Mirella Pozzoli, a tourist visiting the Pantheon in Rome from the Lombardy region in northern Italy, said the mere act of dining together was special for Italians:
Sitting at the table with family or friends is something that we Italians deeply appreciate. It is a tradition of coexistence that you will not find anywhere else in the world.
Italy is already well represented on the list
Italy already has 13 other cultural assets on UNESCO’s intangible list, including the Sicilian puppet theater, the violin crafts of Cremona and the practice of moving livestock along seasonal migratory routes known as transhumance.
Italy appeared on two previous food-related lists: a 2013 citation for the “Mediterranean diet” that included Italy and a half-dozen other countries, and a 2017 recognition of Naples pizza makers.
Petrillo, the Italian campaign member, said that after 2017, the number of schools accredited to train Neapolitan pizza makers increased by more than 400%.
“After UNESCO recognition, there were important economic effects, both in tourism and product sales and in education and training,” he said.
With AP information
Keep reading: