{"id":4281,"date":"2025-12-11T05:35:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T05:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/a-gesture-of-love-italys-cuisine-joins-unescos-cultural-heritage-list\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T05:35:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T05:35:46","slug":"a-gesture-of-love-italys-cuisine-joins-unescos-cultural-heritage-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/a-gesture-of-love-italys-cuisine-joins-unescos-cultural-heritage-list\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A gesture of love\u2019: Italy\u2019s cuisine joins UNESCO\u2019s cultural heritage list"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>A UNESCO panel backed Italy\u2019s bid, recognising Italian cuisine as a social ritual that binds families, communities.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p data-start=\"94\" data-end=\"337\">Italian cuisine, long cherished for its deep regional traditions, has been officially recognised by UNESCO as an \u201cintangible cultural heritage\u201d \u2013 a designation the country hopes will elevate its global prestige and draw more visitors.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"94\" data-end=\"337\">\u201cWe are the first in the world to receive this recognition, which honours who we are and our identity,\u201d Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement on Instagram on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2025\/8\/24\/how-burgers-helped-me-better-understand-my-vietnamese-immigrant-mother\">How burgers helped me better understand my Vietnamese immigrant mother<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2025\/8\/23\/how-nigerians-reinvented-an-italian-tinned-tomato-brand\">How Nigerians reinvented an Italian tinned tomato brand<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/al-jazeera-world\/2025\/3\/25\/flavours-of-the-arab-golden-age-ep-3-aleppo-and-the-silk\">Flavours of the Arab Golden Age \u2013 EP 3: Aleppo and the Silk Road<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2025\/8\/27\/cracker-barrel-revives-old-logo-after-backlash-stoked-by-trump\">Cracker Barrel revives old logo after backlash stoked by Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p data-start=\"94\" data-end=\"337\">\u201cFor us Italians, cuisine is not just food, not just a collection of recipes. It is much more, it is culture, tradition, work, and wealth,\u201d Meloni said.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"94\" data-end=\"337\">The vote by a cultural panel of UNESCO \u2013 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization \u2013 meeting in New Delhi capped a process Italy launched in 2023, with the government portraying the country\u2019s culinary tradition as a social ritual that binds families and communities.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udd34 BREAKING<\/p>\n<p>New inscription on the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IntangibleHeritage?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#IntangibleHeritage<\/a> List: Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Italy?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Italy<\/a>\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9.<\/p>\n<p>Congratulations!<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xoL14QjPPR\">https:\/\/t.co\/xoL14QjPPR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LivingHeritage?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LivingHeritage<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2iY86Obn3n\">pic.twitter.com\/2iY86Obn3n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 UNESCO \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f #Education #Sciences #Culture \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf3 (@UNESCO) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UNESCO\/status\/1998689761721040959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 10, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"cooking-is-a-gesture-of-love\" data-start=\"94\" data-end=\"373\">\u2018Cooking is a gesture of love\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>UNESCO did not single out any famous dishes or regional specialities. Instead, the citation focused on how much Italians value the everyday rituals around food: the big Sunday lunch, the tradition of nonnas teaching kids how to fold tortellini just right, and simply sitting down together to enjoy a meal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCooking is a gesture of love; it\u2019s how we share who we are and how we look after each other,\u201d said Pier Luigi Petrillo, part of Italy\u2019s UNESCO campaign and a professor at Rome\u2019s La Sapienza University.<\/p>\n<p>In its announcement, UNESCO described Italian cuisine as a \u201ccultural and social blend of culinary traditions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeyond cooking, practitioners view the element as a way of caring for oneself and others, expressing love and rediscovering one\u2019s cultural roots. It gives communities an outlet to share their history and describe the world around them,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>The UNESCO listing could deliver further economic benefits to a country already renowned for its cooking and where the agri-food supply chain accounts for about 15 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).<\/p>\n<p>It could also bring some relief to traditional family-run restaurants, long the backbone of Italian dining, which are facing a harsh economic climate in a market increasingly polarised between premium and budget options.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-10T194336Z_378683136_RC2TDIAME9M3_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-CUISINE-UNESCO-1765422640.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C511&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"The Colosseum is illuminated during a special light installation\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption>The Colosseum is illuminated during a special light installation, after Italy won a place on UNESCO\u2019s cultural heritage list [Remo Casilli\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span>Honouring cultural expressions<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"110\" data-end=\"378\">Italy is not the first country to see its cuisine honoured as a cultural expression.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"110\" data-end=\"378\">In 2010, UNESCO inscribed the \u201cgastronomic meal of the French\u201d on its intangible heritage list, calling out France\u2019s tradition of marking life\u2019s important moments around the table.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"110\" data-end=\"378\">Other food traditions have been added in recent years, too, including the cider culture of Spain\u2019s Asturian region, Senegal\u2019s Ceebu Jen dish, and the traditional cheese-making of Minas Gerais in Brazil.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"110\" data-end=\"378\">UNESCO reviews new candidates for its intangible-heritage lists every year under three categories: a representative list; a list for practices considered in \u201curgent\u201d need of safeguarding; and a register of effective safeguarding practices.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"110\" data-end=\"378\">At this year\u2019s meeting in New Delhi, the committee evaluated 53 proposals for the representative list, which already includes 788 entries. Other nominees included Swiss yodelling, the handloom weaving technique used to make Bangladesh\u2019s Tangail sarees, and Chile\u2019s family circuses.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4166567\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4166567\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP19095457236921-1765422526.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"A woman spoons onto a plate some \"spaghetti alla Carbonara\" during a cooking competition on the eve of the Carbonara Day\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4166567\">A woman spoons \u2018spaghetti alla Carbonara\u2019 during a cooking competition [Andrew Medichini\/AP Photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A UNESCO panel backed Italy\u2019s bid, recognising Italian cuisine as a social ritual that binds families, communities. Italian cuisine, long cherished for its deep regional traditions, has been officially recognised by UNESCO as an \u201cintangible cultural heritage\u201d \u2013 a designation the country hopes will elevate its global prestige and draw more visitors. \u201cWe are the &#8230; <a title=\"\u2018A gesture of love\u2019: Italy\u2019s cuisine joins UNESCO\u2019s cultural heritage list\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/11\/a-gesture-of-love-italys-cuisine-joins-unescos-cultural-heritage-list\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about \u2018A gesture of love\u2019: Italy\u2019s cuisine joins UNESCO\u2019s cultural heritage list\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}