The French baguette and UNESCO


The French baguette and UNESCO
As you may have already read here or there, France has initiated for some time the procedure to try to have the French baguette classified as an intangible world heritage by UNESCO.

When you put it like that, it sounds a bit namby-pamby, and it would be tempting to imagine an American (for example) sniggering at those Frenchies and their damn baguette that they love so much.

But it's not as simplistic as that, because for us French, the relationship with bread is very particular.
15 K 4.9/5 (22 reviews)
Grade this page:
Keywords for this post:BaguetteFranceUnescoWorldHeritage
Last modified on: March 18th 2020
For this post: Comment Follow Ask me a question Send to a friend
The French baguette and UNESCO
First of all, and even if we are used to it, let's not forget that bread is the cornerstone of our diet, even if its consumption has been steadily decreasing for years, it still remains something very important for us, on a daily basis. To be convinced of this, we need only look at the astonishing number of expressions in French that refer to bread: "Manger son pain blanc", "Lui faire passer le gout du pain", "Du pain sur la planche"... etc.

Then our bread, or rather our breads, have an almost unique specificity in the world, it is that they are crispy. We all appreciate a warm bread that comes out of the oven, and that crunches when you cut it or eat it, it doesn't look like much but it's typically French. It's a delight of texture, but also of taste because 80% of the taste of the bread is in the crust. And if you have travelled outside of France, you will have noticed, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries, the poor quality of breads, let's say "crumb bread", under plastic, their frightening composition, and their almost total absence of taste, associated with their suspicious elasticity after 3 weeks in the cupboard.

la baguette un cliché français



The baguette is even more French, almost Parisian it must be admitted, this long and thin bread, golden and crispy, with a very short shelf life (6h max) that we buy every day, or even several times a day, we are the only ones in the world to do that, and we do it a lot: 32 million baguettes are sold in France every day. So there is no need to specify "French baguette", because a baguette is only French.

It is however very simple as a recipe: water + flour + salt + leaven + a drop of yeast, but all the talent of the baker comes afterwards: long fermentation, short kneading, quality of the products, careful cooking, to finally obtain an exceptional product.

baguette française



I had already mentioned in a previous post that there was baguette and baguette, and that it was necessary at all costs (yes, well, I'm exaggerating a bit, but it's a subject that touches me a lot) to prefer the "traditional" baguette, if possible well baked, because it's so much better for the taste and also for the health.

All this to tell you, that no, this classification request is not a baker's whim, we are indeed with the baguette on a real French specificity, which deserves to be distinguished.

And then, oh, the Neapolitans have already obtained it for the pizza ;-)...

To sum up: The French baguette classified as a UNESCO world heritage site? But of course, what a fair recognition of a so french product !

Lasts posts
Oven height
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.
October 8th 20259055
The importance of sieving
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?
September 3rd 20256,6403
The grease spray
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...
August 26th 20256,0465
Cake moulds
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?
August 25th 20256,2185
Thinning out herbs
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...
August 8th 20254,3815

Other pages you may also like
 The super powers of cornstarch
The super powers of cornstarch
I start this new year by evoking an old product, that you most probably have in your cupboards, a white powder, often in a small cardboard package with a slightly outdated look, only the "gluten free" is relatively recent, it is simply cornstarch, hence its name of maïzena. It's used for a lot...
January 14th 202214 K
Sugar syrups
Sugar syrups
In cooking, and especially in pastry, we often use sugar syrups, a simple mixture of water and sugar in varying proportions. Here is a presentation of their differences. .
January 17th 202311 K4.8
Fried potatoes or fried mash?
Fried potatoes or fried mash?
In cooking there are a lot of dishes that appear to be extremely simple but which can actually prove to be very tricky. Amongst those that I'm aware of having this reputation are omelette and fried potatoes.
February 6th 201125 K4.5
What can I use for blind baking a pastry case?
What can I use for blind baking a pastry case?
When it comes to home-made desserts, tarts are always popular. They can be divided into two basic types: those cooked with their filling, such as an apricot and almond cream tart, and those where the filling is added after baking the pastry case, such as a strawberry tart or chocolate tart. For...
May 2nd 2017111 K4.5
A few tips for effective kneading at home
A few tips for effective kneading at home
When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.
June 23th 2021282 K 23.7
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing

Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page