Every year Unesco, the heritage organization of the United Nations, assesses applications from countries to add traditions, cultural expressions and crafts to the list of world heritage. This time the baguette comes on top. Or rather: ‘the traditional knowledge and culture of the baguette’.
France submitted the application last year, which was approved at a UNESCO meeting in Rabat, Morocco. President Emmanuel Macron of France supported the request. He described the French loaf pan as “250 grams of magic and perfection.”
So far this year, UNESCO has listed sixteen more traditions or customs. These include the Chinese way of tea production and modern dance in Germany. There are no Dutch traditions on the list this year. Next year, however, the Rotterdam summer carnival can be added. The flower parade culture and the miller’s craft are already on the list for the Netherlands. In total, Unesco counts 647 traditions and customs as intangible world heritage.
Every year, French bakers sell about 6 billion baguettes. Nevertheless, the craft is under pressure. Like elsewhere, French society is supermarketing. Since the 1970s, the number of bakeries decreased from 55 thousand to 35 thousand. So on average 400 disappear every year. ‘It is important that the traditional knowledge and social customs continue to exist in the future,’ says Unesco boss Audrey Azoulay, who is also a former French minister of culture.
Bread Decree
In 1993, the French government already took measures to protect the baguette, with a bread decree. This describes when a bread can be called ‘homemade’ and when ‘traditional French’. Pain house must be kneaded, shaped and baked at the point of sale. Pain de tradition française must contain only four ingredients: water, flour, salt, and yeast or sourdough.
Other substances such as preservatives should be avoided coûte que coûte, similar to the German one Purity Law for beer. It is therefore best to eat a baguette immediately, before the bread actually turns into a stick.
Baguette baking is not the first French tradition on the Unesco list. Also, the carnival in Granville is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as is horse riding the French way and enjoying a gastronomic meal in company, starting with an aperitif, followed by a starter, main course, cheese and dessert and concluded with liqueur.