France's baguette given World Heritage status
When one sees a baguette, one immediately associates it with France, so it's no surprise that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named the iconic bread as an intangible cultural heritage.
The Associated Press reports that UNESCO experts gathered in Morocco included the baguette in the list after France's Ministry of Culture rang alarm bells about the decline of traditional bakeries in the country. The baguette is now part of a list that already features 600 traditions from over 130 countries.
According to UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay, the recognition honors not just the traditional bread but also the “savoir-faire of artisanal bakers” and the importance of maintaining the “craft knowledge and social practices” that are associated with the bread.
The new designation has prompted the French government to plan an “artisanal baguette day” that aims to help the French to better connect with their heritage.
Reuters adds that the baguette has been a part of the French diet for at least a century, and a 2019 Fiducial estimate pegs French consumption of the baguette at 16 million loaves per day or 6 billion baguettes a year.
Made out of salt, water, flour, and yeast, the creator of the baguette is often thought to be the Austrian baker August Zang, who introduced the steam oven to France and allowed for the production of bread with a brittle crust but a fluffy interior.
Including traditions in the list of intangible cultural heritages is just one of the mandates of UNESCO. The UN body also names world heritage sites around the world, which grants these locations legal protections because of their cultural, historical, or scientific significance.
One such site is the Great Barrier Reef, which UNESCO recently recommended to be declared as “in danger” due to the effects of climate change.
According to the report submitted by UNESCO scientists, climate change has “substantially compromised” the reef's ability to recover from events like coral bleaching. Over the past seven years, the Great Barrier Reef has experienced four bleaching events.
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