Mexican cuisine recognized by UN as culturally significant

UN cultural organization Unesco has added France’s traditional gastronomic meal to the world’s intangible heritage list at a committee meeting in Kenya. Traditional Mexican food has also been included on the list by Unesco experts, who have been meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. This is the first time that gastronomy has made it on to the list.

Other cultural elements said to have been recognized include Spain’s flamenco, Colombia’s marimba instrument and chants from its Pacific coast. The huaconada, a traditional dance of the Mito people in the Peruvian Andes, has also been added to the list.



The official Unesco citation

Mexico – Traditional Mexican cuisine – ancestral, ongoing community culture, the Michoacán paradigm – Traditional Mexican cuisine is a comprehensive cultural model comprising farming, ritual practices, age-old skills, culinary techniques and ancestral community customs and manners. It is made possible by collective participation in the entire traditional food chain: from planting and harvesting to cooking and eating. The basis of the system is founded on corn, beans and chili; unique farming methods such as milpas (rotating swidden fields of corn and other crops) and chinampas (man-made farming islets in lake areas); cooking processes such as nixtamalization (lime-hulling maize, which increases its nutritional value); and singular utensils including grinding stones and stone mortars. Native ingredients such as varieties of tomatoes, squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla augment the basic staples. Mexican cuisine is elaborate and symbol-laden, with everyday tortillas and tamales, both made of corn, forming an integral part of Day of the Dead offerings. Collectives of female cooks and other practitioners devoted to raising crops and traditional cuisine are found in the State of Michoacán and across Mexico. Their knowledge and techniques express community identity, reinforce social bonds, and build stronger local, regional and national identities. Those efforts in Michoacán also underline the importance of traditional cuisine as a means of sustainable development.