Italian Cuisine Intangible Heritage of Humanity. After celebrating the Mediterranean Diet, which was included in the list of traditions to be protected in 2010, Italy is now advancing its application to UNESCO for protection for the Belpaese culinary style. World-renowned, but often the victim of bad imitations.
Italian cuisine too many imitations
The Petition for Italian Cuisine Abroad is promoted by the Icw Association-Italian Cuisine in the World-a network with more than 2,500 members including chefs, restaurateurs and other professionals in the Italian restaurant and gastronomy industry around the world.
The goal is to protect Italian food and wine supremacy beyond national borders. Where, unfortunately, traditional Italian cuisine-whether handed down by Italians who migrated abroad or adopted by restaurateurs with no connection to Made in Italy-is distorted by local customs with no more adherence to basic principles.
Revenge on the French
Already among the nominations submitted by Italy for UNESCO’s consideration is “The Art of the Neapolitan Pizza Maker,” which would bring the number of items inscribed on the Intangible Heritage List to eight.
But the call for protection for Italian Cuisine also has another value. Revenge on France, which has seen the “French Grastronomic Meal” already under the UNESCO wing since 2010, as “a customary social practice for celebrating important moments in the lives of individuals and groups, such as births, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, achievements and reunions.”
Italian intangible assets
There are currently 7 Italian elements on the List for the Protection of Intangible Heritage:
– Falconry, a “transnational” element (uniting 18 countries, under the leadership of the United Arab Emirates),
– The Sicilian Puppet Opera,
– Sardinian Tenores Songs,
– The Mediterranean diet, a “transnational” element (including Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Morocco, Spain and Portugal in addition to Italy),
– Cremona’s Violin Making Know-How,
– The Festivals of the Great Shoulder Machines (The Feast of the Lilies of Nola, the Varia of Palmi, the Faradda of the Candlesticks of Sassari, the transportation of the Macchina of Santa Rosa in Viterbo),
– The Pantelleria bush vine.
