ICHD - Cuisine et santé

The Intangible Cultural Heritage Days 2024 will focus on culinary and food practices, with a round table discussion on "Cuisine and health".
Peinture d'une table sur laquelle est posé un torchon blanc, une théière, une cuillère et des fruits
Paul Gauguin, Nature morte à la théière et aux fruits, 1896. © The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002‎

The "Intangible Cultural Heritage" (ICH) defined by UNESCO in October 2003 recorded eating habits and culinary practices for the first time in 2010. France was the first to register its "gastronomic meal", followed by other countries such as Japan, Greece, Italy, Kenya, Senegal and, more recently, Peru and Lebanon. To date, 18 countries and 5 regions have had their culinary and food heritage registered with UNESCO.

Cooking is in itself a first form of medicine. One of its elementary principles is to make food edible and digestible for our organism, in order to consolidate and improve our health over time through cooking or alloying processes. Over the course of its history, every human society has developed new food combinations, new meal structures and attributed specific virtues to certain foods. The world of health has developed culturally and historically alongside the world of cooking and eating in many - if not all - of the world's cultures. In this round table, our speakers will present how different societies and cultures have and continue to approach this relationship between food, cooking and health through several examples.

Moderation: Aliyah Morgenstern, linguist, professor at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3

Interventions:

  • Laurence Pourchez, anthropologist, university professor at Inalco, specialist in Creole societies of the southwest Indian Ocean
  • Véronique Pitchon, historian at CNRS within the ArcHiMedE (Archaeology and History of the Mediterranean - Europe)
  • Emilie Félix, founder of WAYO - Chef committed to living, author and lecturer