Abstract
In this work I argue that UNESCO intangible heritage inscriptions discursively root fluid and moveable food traditions in place. The nomination forms for the French gastronomic meal and Mexican traditional cuisine reign in the symbolic meaning of their food traditions through the process of definition and description, connecting them to territory, national history, and kinship in order to promote fixed and essentialized national culinary identities. Through an examination of the nominations submitted by each respective Member State, I show how the intangible becomes tangible and how this tangibility serves to assuage anxieties over contamination, the dissolution of the nation state, and the fading away of historical narratives. Embedding and fixing these traditions within place portrays the nation as a site of agency with a unique (and, more problematically, fixed) cultural identity. Taking on solid form, these traditions also come to narrate collective pasts, providing a place for those in the present as cultural protectors and propagators.
Highlights
In this work I argue that UNESCO intangible heritage inscriptions discursively root fluid and moveable food traditions in place
We may look to two recently inscribed food cultures on UNESCO's list ofthe Intangible Cultural Heritage in order to gain insight into how the circulation of food cultures beyond their country oforigin may threaten culinary standards, and national cultural identities tied to kinship, territory, and history
Revisiting our stroll down Bloor Street, with so many restaurant options open to us, we come back to the question of whether these ethnic restaurants, taken out ofthcir social contexts, are in any way threatening to their place of origin? Food, as previously stated, is a mobile medium
Summary
We may look to two recently inscribed food cultures on UNESCO's list ofthe Intangible Cultural Heritage in order to gain insight into how the circulation of food cultures beyond their country oforigin may threaten culinary standards, and national cultural identities tied to kinship, territory, and history. This work will start out with a brief history of UNESCO and Intangible Heritage, followed by a discussion of the context, history, and content of both the Mexican and French submission These last sections will draw work being done in the field of food studies and cultural studies in order to elucidate how each nomination seeks to discursively embed their respective food traditions within a specific geographical location, nestled in the continuum of a particular national history, and reliant upon a unique socio-cultural context of production and consumption for its survival
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
