When it comes to intangible cultural heritage, China currently has 38 items on the UNESCO list. , none of them are food-related.
To make it on the list, a candidate must have deep cultural and social meaning, UNESCO said. This is something Chinese cuisine is rich .
Many important dates in China (mark) with food. The Spring Festival celebrations, for example, kick off with a bowl of "eight treasure" congee(腊八粥) on the eighth day of the 12th lunar month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
Apart from its (symbol) festive meaning, Chinese cuisine shows a unique theory of health. the West has a food pyramid, the philosophy of yin and yang can be found in most Chinese dishes.
In addition to health (concern), some Chinese dishes show great social functions. Take the "four dishes and one soup" idea an example. According to legend, the notion (origin) in the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang served a dinner of four dishes and one soup to officials to advise against extravagance.
Although each plate of Chinese food contains years of ancestral wisdom, sometimes it's beyond a (foreign) understanding. In 2011, the China Cuisine Association made an application to put more than 30 Chinese foods and food preparation techniques on the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage items, but failed.
Now, the association is working on an (improve) list of cuisine candidates to apply for UNESCO heritage status. And the result will be announced in November.
