UNESCO Gives First Approval to Italian Cuisine as a World Heritage Site

Italy is one step closer to gaining UNESCO recognition for Italian cuisine after the United Nations’ cultural body expressed initial approval for the bid on November 10.

After viewing Italy’s candidature, UNESCO experts recommended that Italian cuisine be included in the UN body’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, with a final decision expected in December. If the technical judgment is confirmed, Italian cuisine would be the first cuisine in the world to obtain UNESCO recognition as a whole.

Italy’s bid for Italian cuisine, which underlines the close links between Italian food, culture and lifestyle, is the result of a joint proposal from the ministries of culture and agriculture.

In September, Italy boosted its candidature by holding an open-air Sunday lunch in the Roman Forum attended by Italian premier Giorgia Meloni and the ministers of culture and agriculture, Alessandro Giuli and Francesco Lollobrigida respectively.

Meloni, who appeared live on the Domenica In television programme during the lunch, hailed Italian cuisine as “one of the most extraordinary things we have, expressing our culture, our identity, our tradition, but also our strength.”