The Intangible Cultural Heritage Days 2024 (ICHD) - Culinary and food practices

The Intangible Cultural Heritage Days 2024 (ICHD) celebrate living cultural practices handed down from generation to generation and classified by UNESCO, in connection with Inalco's cultural areas. Through a program of conferences, round-table discussions, documentary screenings and performances, these days aim to introduce the public to the diversity of these cultural practices, the field of study at Inalco. Every year, Inalco organizes the JPCI around a theme, and this second edition focuses on culinary and food practices.
6 illustrations peintes : des feuilles de coriandre, un ravioli tenu par des baguettes, une framboise, une bouteille de vin et un verre de vin à côté, une crevette et une fourchette avec un spaghetti
JPCI 2024 © Inalco ‎

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.

Culinary practices distinguish humans from animals, for of all species, only humans transform natural foodstuffs into cooked dishes, either to make them edible or to change their taste. Cutting techniques, cooking, seasoning, preserving food - all these processes are at the root of the transmission of family, community and, more recently, national identities. Thus, cooking has become much more than a means of subsistence, and has asserted itself as a means of cultural and social expression in all human societies on different scales, whatever the continent or geographical area.

The same is true of eating practices. Eating is far from a trivial act characterized solely by its functional aspect. The codification of the order of the dishes, the use of crockery and cutlery, the rules of etiquette; all these are malleable from one culture to another and from one social space to another.

From their fundamental aspect to life as well as to cultural expression, our kitchens like our food are at the foundation of our societies. Economy, hygiene and health, environment, cultural symbolisms, social distinctions, human exchanges and transmissions are all ways of approaching this fascinating subject, which still remains too little explored in French academia, particularly in areal studies.

In 1995, Inalco published Cuisine d'Orient et d'ailleurs : traditions culinaires des peuples du monde, a book both scientific and practical containing numerous recipes from the cultural areas taught within the establishment. Thirty years later, Inalco is organizing its Journées du patrimoine culturel immatériel (Intangible Cultural Heritage Days), which will focus on the theme of culinary and food practices for its second edition. UNESCO representatives, academic researchers and specialists, chefs, committed associations, freelancers and celebrities from the culinary world will be on hand for a series of round tables, evening events and fun workshops, where academics and the general public will be able to freely exchange views on a subject that concerns us all.

Scientific referent: Alexis Markovitch, PhD student in Japanese history at Inalco (IFRAE)

Program subject to change.

Schedule for Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Schedule for Thursday, October 3, 2024
Exhibition October 2 and 3
Institut français de recherche sur l'Asie de l'Est - logo Logo IEHCA
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Under the patronage of the French National Commission for UNESCO.

Event in partnership with the Festival Jean Rouch, the Mission Française du Patrimoine & des Cultures Alimentaires, La Maison des cultures du monde, La Mairie du 13ème, le Musée de l'histoire de l'immigration, Japon Infos, Tempura, Japan Magazine, student associations ADET, ChaiStani and Russinalco.