There are few visuals more iconic than a French person carrying a baguette through the streets of Paris or home from the baker in a quaint countryside town. Now, everyone’s favorite crusty loaf of bread has been classified as essential to humanity’s cultural heritage. UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, added the artistry of baguette making to its “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” list. According to UNESCO, intangible cultural heritage “includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants.”
The art of Neapolitan pizza, Arabic coffee and kimchi are just a few of the other foodstuffs that have been placed on the list in the past. When you think about how difficult it is to master bread baking, it makes total sense that the French icon is being given this high honor. UNESCO’s director general, Audrey Azoulay, told CNN that it took France six years to collect all of the necessary documentation to submit its request to the agency.
“It’s kind of a way of life,” Azoulay said to CNN. “There is always a boulangerie nearby, you can go and buy fresh affordable bread and you meet people, meet with bakers, it’s a very important element of social cohesion. [The baguette] comes from history and it has character and it’s important to make the public aware of this, to be proud of it.”
We also agree that good bread is a way of life and vote that French butter and jambon de Paris should also make the list.
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