Italy has formally made historical past as the primary nation to have its complete culinary system protected as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. On this put up, I’ll discover the importance of this designation and weigh the official submission in opposition to my 25 years of expertise with Italian cooking and tradition. I additionally handle the current Guardian article claiming that conventional Italian delicacies is merely a “delusion”—a provocative take that feels extra like a guide promotion than a legitimate historic argument.
The Context: What’s UNESCO Intangible Heritage?
UNESCO is finest identified for its World Heritage Listing, which incorporates websites just like the Taj Mahal (India), the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt), and Machu Picchu (Peru). Moreover this tangible world heritage, from 2003 UNESCO has expanded to safeguard additionally intangible cultural heritage, sustaining a “Consultant Listing of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. To get a practice added to this record, a rustic should show the customized is a residing a part of their tradition that fosters world variety and creativity. The nomination requires a transparent plan for its safety, proof of full consent and participation from the local people, and affirmation that it’s already formally recorded within the house nation’s nationwide stock.
The Italians have submitted this file to get “Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural variety” on the record. This submission portrays Italian house cooking as a significant social glue that connects generations by means of the artwork of meals. It emphasizes “anti-waste” traditions and artisanal strategies which might be handed down from grandparents to grandchildren, guaranteeing that flavors and historical past aren’t misplaced to time. It goes on to level out that in Italy, this follow serves as a “language of care,” the place getting ready a meal is an act of affection that fosters neighborhood belonging, social inclusion, and bodily well-being. Whether or not in a household kitchen or a public competition, the act of sharing a desk turns into a classroom for all times, preserving not simply culinary expertise, but additionally the gestures, tales, and cultural roots of the Italian folks.
The Proof: Testing the UNESCO Standards
The 20 th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in New Delhi in December 2025, formally authorised Italy’s submission. Whereas this confirms that each one formal necessities had been met—and little doubt concerned a good quantity of worldwide diplomacy—I desire to look previous the paperwork. I’m much less eager about Italy’s means to navigate the politics and paperwork of UNESCO and extra within the substance: Is Italian cooking really the heartbeat of the tradition, or is that only a romanticized picture on a nomination kind?
After experiencing and finding out Italian delicacies and tradition for over 25 years—studying the language, visiting all of Italy’s areas, and tasting my manner by means of each stage of the culinary scene, from humble neighborhood trattorie to Michelin-starred icons; getting ready recipes from all around the nation, following Italian meals blogs, and being invited into Italian houses for genuine home-cooked meals; befriending Italians and interesting in discussions with them about meals and cooking; and deepening my understanding of Italian historical past and tradition by means of studying their novels and watching their motion pictures and TV exhibits—my reply is a convincing sure.
Let’s study the UNESCO standards concerning substance required for the submission file and evaluate them with my private expertise:
- Authenticity (R.1): A Real Residing Custom. Meals is essential to Italians. If there’s a celebration and even only a gathering of household or mates, meals is a vital component; it’s extra than simply sustenance. The household lunch on Sunday is an establishment. In lots of Italian novels I’ve learn, meals and meals are a vital component of setting the scene, usually together with detailed descriptions of dishes or recipes. A residing custom additionally implies that it ought to have historic roots and evolve over time. Each are true for Italian cooking. The historic roots are clearly seen within the regional dishes, as a result of you’ll be able to inform they had been created with what was out there regionally, earlier than the occasions of refrigeration and quick long-distance transportation. Even at present, you solely must go about 10 kilometers inland to see the native dishes altering fully from seafood to meat. And native elements function prominently; for example, it’s straightforward to acknowledge recipes from Liguria as a lot of them comprise pine nuts (simply out there) and no or a diminished quantity of flour (as a result of there was not a lot area for rising grain). The normal side can also be clear in that many recipes in style at present will be traced again to historic sources just like the guide Science within the Kitchen and the Artwork of Consuming Properly by Pellegrino Artusi (1891). Alternatively, the residing side is obvious in that recipes have advanced and lots of now well-known recipes have emerged solely after WW2 (like Carbonara, Tiramisù, and Ciabatta) or have been influenced by Italians in diaspora (like pizza). The current replace of the official recipe for Ragù alla Bolognese can also be proof that evolving culinary practices are included into the custom.
- International Worth (R.2): Visibility, Dialogue, and Sustainability. UNESCO is on the lookout for proof that this heritage helps the whole world talk and perceive one another higher. I’ve discovered it is vitally straightforward to strike up a dialog with an Italian about meals. They like to debate and even debate elements, recipes, or cooking strategies. The truth that Italians are keen to spend their time debating a recipe with folks from outdoors their borders proves that their heritage encourages intercultural dialogue. Simply the mere indisputable fact that I, as a Dutchman, am penning this weblog now’s proof that including Italian cooking to UNESCO’s record contributes to consciousness and dialogue. Sustainability is a transparent theme in Italian cooking, because it makes use of regionally sourced elements and prevents waste by turning leftovers into new dishes. In Puglia, they even make use of burnt flour that’s left in ovens after baking (grano arso).
- Safety (R.3): Safeguarding for Future Generations. I’ve skilled three sorts of safeguarding measures. The primary one is included in Italy’s submission and essentially the most well-known: the custom of passing down recipes and strategies between generations, from the nonnas to their youngsters and grandchildren. There are two others that I think about to be essential and usually are not within the submission, though they really assist the submission’s spirit. The primary is that I’ve discovered that Italians care deeply about their culinary traditions and ‘police’ them fervently. In case you don’t know what I imply, attempt chopping spaghetti or placing cheese on pasta with vongole in entrance of an Italian, and also you’ll discover out. This ‘culinary policing’ isn’t nearly being strict; it’s a community-led safeguarding effort that ensures the id of the dish stays intact regardless of exterior stress to simplify or change it. The second is the organized actions to protect and promote regional merchandise and recipes, like a committee to outline the official recipe for Ragù alla Bolognese and depositing that with the chamber of commerce, or publications by the Sluggish Meals motion, together with a guidebook Osterie d’Italia with easy eating places that serve genuine native dishes and books with recipes from these eating places.
- Group Assist (R.4) and Official Recognition (R.5). Whereas these standards cope with the submission course of fairly than the precise follow, my expertise of how straightforward it’s to befriend Italians by means of speaking about meals offers me little doubt in regards to the assist of Italians for this submission.
The Distinction: Italy vs. Thailand
The Italian resilience in defending their culinary traditions turns into much more spectacular when in comparison with my experiences in Thailand, the place it was almost not possible to seek out genuine native dishes in touristy areas as a result of the meals scene has tailored to the tastes and expectations of worldwide guests. That is placing while you notice that Italy receives extra vacationers (65-70 million) per yr than the scale of the native inhabitants (59 million), whereas Thailand receives lower than 40 million vacationers on a inhabitants of over 70 million.
My opinion about Grandi’s article in The Guardian
Shortly after UNESCO’s recognition hit the information, I seen an opinion article in The Guardian by Alberto Grandi entitled “The parable of conventional Italian delicacies has seduced the world. The reality may be very completely different”. He’s the writer of the guide La Cucina Italiana Non Esiste (Italian Delicacies Does Not Exist) and a professor of meals historical past on the College of Parma. On this article, he claims that what Italy submitted was not its precise historical past however a postcard: fantastically composed, rigorously lit, and designed to please, as a substitute of the actual, stressed, ingenious and gloriously impure story of Italian delicacies. Or in different phrases, he claims that UNESCO has acknowledged a delusion.
Nonetheless, what was really submitted and acknowledged was exactly the residing delicacies that evolves in actual houses as described by Grandi. Grandi appears to imagine that UNESCO would solely acknowledge an historical, traditionally pure, culinary canon, whereas in actuality it’s fairly the alternative: UNESCO’s definition of intangible heritage explicitly requires it to be consistently recreated by communities and teams in response to their atmosphere. He makes some legitimate factors in his article, however his declare that UNESCO has inscribed a delusion doesn’t observe from the proof he presents. I imagine he has both not learn the submission or is spinning a story to generate publicity his guide. Let’s look extra carefully at his arguments, one after the other:
- Prior Recognitions: His first level is that France and Japan have ‘crushed’ Italy as a result of their cuisines had been acknowledged in 2010 and 2013. This misconstrues the character of prior recognitions. France’s 2010 inscription honored the gastronomic meal of the French (a ritualized format), and Japan’s 2013 inscription honored washoku (a dietary tradition). Italy’s 2025 itemizing is categorically completely different: it acknowledges the whole nationwide delicacies as residing heritage. It’s true that Italians had been irritated that culinary traditions of France and Japan had been acknowledged first, however Italy was not late to the identical achievement.
- The “Historical” Argument: Grandi states that “the energy of Italian delicacies has by no means rested on an historical, coherent culinary canon”, and that the submission “embalmed a residing delicacies”. That is nonetheless not what was submitted. He goes on to say that “most of what passes for historical ‘regional custom’ was assembled within the late twentieth century”. It’s true that many in style Italian dishes at present advanced in 1945–1965, however you’ll be able to hardly name that the “late” twentieth century. Along with that, the persistence of those recipes for 60–80 years—throughout households, cities, and areas—really demonstrates that these have turn into a practice by any cheap cultural measure. And people recipes have roots that return rather a lot longer, for example to Artusi (1891), but additionally to the varied geography of Italy that formed the variations between regional cuisines.
- Starvation and Survival: Grandi is correct that Italian delicacies was formed by starvation, improvisation, and survival. The well-known cucina povera emerged from shortage and was transmitted throughout generations. However not mentioning the hunger explicitly within the UNESCO submission will not be the identical as presenting Italian cooking with sunlit tables and recipes carved in marble, like Grandi suggests. Moreover, being formed by shortage and survival is akin to the historical past and origin of all cuisines on the earth, so not distinctive to Italian culinary custom. Though it’s true that the Italian delicacies that conquered the world was partially re-invented outdoors of Italy by Italian emigrants and imported again to Italy (with pizza as essentially the most well-known instance), that definitely doesn’t imply that the whole Italian culinary custom was “invented overseas”.
- Adaptability vs. Sovereignty: Grandi states that “culinary sovereigntists” insist on freezing every little thing in place, whereas cuisines that change are those that survive. I agree that Italian guardianship of culinary traditions can typically take issues too far, insisting that for an genuine dish very exact native elements are required. This isn’t suitable with the soul of Italian cooking, which is all about utilizing what is obtainable. So sure, the native ingredient would definitely be used if it was out there, but when it wasn’t, folks would substitute with one thing that was fairly than starve. Grandi has a legitimate level right here, however I miss out on what it has to do with the UNESCO submission. In follow, adaptability is a core element of the safeguarding of culinary traditions like I witnessed them in Italy, and the way they’re described in Italy’s submission.
- The Postcard Accusation: It’s true {that a} advertising and marketing picture of Italian cooking exists (and never simply invented by the British), however all advertising and marketing focuses on the positives and doesn’t present the negatives. And the positives it exhibits, like households spending hours consuming collectively, have extra basis in actuality than Grandi claims. Lastly, Grandi speculates about what Italy submitted to UNESCO, fairly than evaluating what was really submitted. He states that solely the “actual” story of a delicacies “formed by starvation” would deserve recognition, and means that Italy submitted a sentimental narrative (“a postcard”) fairly than the rigorous safeguarding framework that UNESCO asks for (and is offered within the file that was really submitted).
My conclusion: the Italian culinary custom is a residing actuality, not a advertising and marketing delusion
The UNESCO recognition of Italian delicacies will not be a declaration that Italian meals is “higher” than every other. As a substitute, it’s a formal acknowledgement of a fact I’ve witnessed for over 1 / 4 of a century: that in Italy, the kitchen is the soul of the neighborhood.
Whereas critics like Alberto Grandi could fret over historic “purity” and the dates of particular recipes, they miss the forest for the bushes. A practice will not be outlined by its age, however by its vitality. Whether or not it’s a recipe from 1891 or a post-war innovation from 1950, what issues is passing down the custom, the fierce safety of its id, and the shared pleasure of the desk.
For the traveler, this UNESCO standing is an invite. It’s a reminder to look previous the “vacationer menus” and search out these neighborhood trattorie and household tables the place the actual heritage lives. After 25 years of exploring each nook of this lovely nation, I can inform you that the “postcard” is actual—not as a result of it’s excellent, however as a result of it’s lived each single day.
What do you suppose? Does Italy’s culinary heritage really feel like a “residing custom” to you, or have you ever discovered it more durable to seek out the “actual factor” in your travels? I’d love to listen to your ideas within the feedback under.
