UNESCO Enlists Japanese Cooking as a Heritage, Mediterranean Diet Not Lebanese
One of UNESCO's three heritage missions, Intangible Cultural Heritage focuses on intangible aspects of culture such as festivals, performing arts and traditional arts, crafts and foods that are transmitted from generation to generation. ( Full Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity). This year, UNESCO enlisted the below diets, cuisines, and dishes:
- The United Nation's cultural organisation has added traditional Japanese food to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list for this year of 2013. It is the second cuisines enlisted after the French cuisine back in 2012.Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year.It is hoped the accolade will help preserve Washoku - the name used to describe all types of Japanese dishes such as sushi - as traditional dietary habits die out in the country due to the invasion of fast food and the loss of traditional cooking.Previously, only French cooking had been distinguished as a national culinary tradition.Washoku gives Japanese a feeling of social cohesion, it’s of low-calorie and healthy.