PARIS: The French baguette — “250 grams of magic and perfection”, in the words of President Emmanuel Macron, and one of the abiding symbols of the nation — was given Unesco heritage status on Wednesday.

The bread, with its crusty exterior and soft middle, has remained a quintessential part of French life long after other stereotypes like berets and strings of garlic have fallen by the wayside.

More than six billion are baked every year in France, according to the National Federation of French Bakeries, and the UN agency’s “intangible cultural heritage status” honours the tradition.

“It celebrates a whole culture: the daily ritual, a structural element of a meal, synonymous with sharing and conviviality,” said Unesco director-general Audrey Azoulay. It comes at a challenging time for the industry.But despite being a seemingly immortal fixture in French life, the baguette only officially got its name in 1920, when a new law specified its minimum weight (80 grams) and maximum length (40 centimetres).Some say long loaves were already common in the 18th century; others that it took the introduction of steam ovens by Austrian baker August Zang in the 1830s for its modern incarnation to take shape.

One popular tale is that Napoleon ordered bread to be made in thin sticks that could be more easily carried by soldiers.

Unesco also added to its list of intangible heritage the traditional knowledge held by Cuba’s light rum masters, a prestigious designation that recognizes a tradition dating back eight generations on the island. “It is a recognition of the generations of Cuban rum masters and... of the tradition of Cuban rum,” rum master Asbel Morales, 54, said.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2022