Baguettes take on Parisian rooftops for Unesco ‘Intangible Heritage’ nod

Luis Miguel Pascual

Paris, Feb 25 (efe-epa).- A battle is being waged in Paris between two of the French capital’s icons: the classic French baguette, baked in their thousands across the city every day, versus its traditional zinc rooftops as they vie to be the latest additions to Unesco’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

While both are symbols of the ‘City of Light’, only one will receive the Unesco seal, as each country can only present one candidate at a time.

The Ministry of Culture will decide at the end of March, although the final word goes to French president Emmanuel Macron.

Champions of the baguette want to follow the trail blazed by other culinary traditions, such as pizza, couscous or Mexican cuisine.

“The time has come for the baguette”, the president of the French bakers, Dominique Anract, tells Efe.

“Many people think of France and think of the baguette — it is specific to France,” he says.

“The first thing a child is told to do by his parents is to go buy bread at the bakery. The first solid food that is given to a baby is a piece of bread.”

Anract says getting on the list would help protect a tradition that began in Paris and since the end of World War II has spread throughout the country, but which today is threatened by the arrival of new products and techniques.

“It is important to keep the traditional recipe, so that it does not become something made by machines and without a soul,” Anract insists.