The French baguette listed as an intangible cultural heritage by Unesco

On Wednesday, November 30, the French baguette entered the intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco. With the beret on the head and the liter of wine, the baguette was for a long time a symbol of the French.

Every day 12 million French people go to their bakery. This recognition of the baguette had been heavily promoted for the past 5 years by the bakers’ union. The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, on a state visit to the USA, spoke of this victory as a recognition of the French way of life.

The UNESCO application file explains that the 250 gram baguette is made up of only four ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast and/or sourdough). But each baker, by playing on the terroir, with the dosage, the kneading, the fermentation time, the shaping as well as the baking, then creates a unique baguette.

The best baguettes are the “traditional baguettes” baked by the artisanal bakers who use the best flours. Each year, in Paris, the union organizes the competition for the best traditional baguette. The winner gains the prize of delivering baguettes each morning for one year to the Elysée Palace – the Residence of the President of the Republic.

Not everyone agreed with this UNESCO recognition. There was criticism expressed by bakers and specialists in the culinary field. For some, this recognition by Unesco is an additional indication of the loss of French taste. Listing the baguette as a UNESCO heritage leads to unifying “under a generic term products of very unequal quality, as expressed by Steven Kaplan, a leading bread historian, whose comments refers to the industrial white baguettes.

After the baguette, it well may be the turn of the French bistro to be examined by Unesco and to be awarded the prize of intangible heritage of humanity.

History of the baguette: a Parisian bread

In France, as in Europe, bread has always been the staple food. In 1900, each inhabitant ate one kilogram, compared to about 120 grams today.

But the baguette is a bread born in Paris that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. It is said to have an Austrian influence. At first, it appeared as a luxury loaf. Then after the Second World War, the baguette conquered all of France. Until the 1970’s in the countryside, previously it was the baker’s loaf, La Miche – a large ball of bread, that was consumed prior to the baguette.

In the 1970’s, we saw the appearance of industrial baguettes that were much less expensive but totally tasteless with the use of chemical additives and rapid kneading. Faced with these industrial breads, the French government protected artisanal bakers against this unfair competition by defending the traditional French baguette which must measure 60 cm, weigh 250g and contain only 4 ingredients: water, natural flour, yeast and salt. It must be cooked in the baker’s oven and be crispy.