Food as Heritage

Food has only recently become object of a scientific analysis as an element of cultural heritage and memorialization processes. Yet food, taste, cuisine, and gastronomy are crucial markers of identity, connected to (sometimes nostalgic) constructions of place, tradition and the past. They play a key role in intangible (as well as tangible) heritage, recognized as such also by UNESCO (e.g. French repas).

The workshop focuses on the diversity of cultural forms that can be understood and experienced as heritage, and the interconnections between public sector and commercial heritage activity that links culture with ‘sustainable economic growth’, not least because the tourist and food industries are both major forces within the European economy, that are synergistic with each other and food has profound socio-cultural importance as an object of pride, celebration, safe difference, tradition and innovation within European identities.