Colombian and Chilean cultural heritage
UNESCO also registered three other Latin American ancestral traditions, as well as a Spanish one.
One is the ancestral knowledge of the Colombian indigenous people who inhabit the mountainous system of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a vast territory that goes from sea level to 5,770 meters in northern Colombia.
This region is inhabited by the autochthonous Kogui, Arhuaco, Wiwa and Kankuamo peoples.
The black pottery that is manufactured in the Chilean towns of Quinchamalí and Santa Cruz de Cucawhose raw material is in danger of disappearing due to logging, was also recognized by the UN body.
This Wednesday it was also announced the inclusion of the celebration of Holy Week in Guatemala, which dates back to the 16th century, and the manual ringing of bells in Spain.
The “
baguette
“victim of his own success
With a crispy crust and spongy crumb, the “baguette” is a relatively recent product: it appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in Paris. It is currently the most consumed bread in all of France.
Every year some 6,000 million “baguettes” are sold, which means that some 12 million consumers ask for them in bakeries every day. Each bar weighs approximately 250 grams.
More than the product itself, UNESCO rewards with this distinction the “savoir-faire”, the particular way of preparing, kneading and baking this loaf of bread that has suffered, like so many other French culinary successes, from the abuses of the industrialization.
This inscription “also celebrates a whole culture: a daily ritual, an element that structures meals, a synonym of exchange and coexistence”, reacted the director general of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay.
“It is a recognition for the community of bakers and pastry chefs“, explained Dominique Anract, president of the French Confederation that brings together these “artisans” of flour and yeast.
The award is a recognition of traditional bakeries, which have been closing down in France, particularly in the countryside.
In 1970 there were some 55,000 artisan bakeries (one for every 790 inhabitants) compared to 35,000 today (one for every 2,000 inhabitants), according to data from the Ministry of Culture.