Fancy grub

It might seem rather strange that France, of all countries, should feel the need to have official international approval for its cuisine. After all it’s pretty much recognised as a gourmet’s paradise. But that’s exactly what the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is after.

On Saturday, shortly before issuing that now famous insult that has had the headlines buzzing ever since, Sarkozy gave his backing to a plan for French cuisine to be listed as part of the world’s cultural heritage.

As of 2009, France is going to slap in an official application to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to honour this country’s food.

The somewhat extraordinary idea dates back to 2006 when a group of leading chefs in France, with not the slightest hint of gastronomic chauvinism, launched a campaign trumpeting that “cuisine was their culture”.

With 400 signatories garnered, they’ve now got the seal of approval from the head of state – a man, it must be said, not exactly renowned for his taste in haute cuisine, Indeed the Eurodisney-loving Sarkozy is often perceived as the kind of person who might be far happier wolfing down a juicy burger with fries.

But never underestimate a desperate president who’s looking for a boost in the polls. Nor a man who will take over the rotating presidency of the European Union later this year and fully intends to make reform of the common agricultural policy (in France’s favour of course) his crucial issue.

Sarkozy has now decided that not only does the France have the best grub in the world but that agriculture and the jobs that produce the food every day are the source of this country’s “gastronomic diversity”.

“It is an essential element of French heritage”, he told an already converted audience at the opening of the massive agricultural fair on Saturday.

Now Unesco is an agency that is supposed, among other things, to support projects to protect traditions in the developing world. And certainly another declared goal is also to encourage all countries to nominate sites within their own borders to ensure the protection of their natural and cultural heritage.

So where does French food fit into all of this you might wonder. Well in a nutshell and put rather simply, it’s probably a stab at good old protectionism.

On the one hand France wants to halt what many here see as the creeping influence of fast food in the daily diet – a noble gesture perhaps. But on the other hand, it also wants to prevent in particular the mass production of cheaper “fine quality” products, long the domain of the French, and the perceived threat of the global food industry.

Unesco’s seal of approval might give France the legal tools with which to protect its own way of producing certain foods and drinks – a sort of internationally enforced “patent” to put it crudely.

How the application will be viewed is questionable, although it will probably raise a few eyebrows even though Unesco is based in Paris.

After all a similar attempt by Mexico back in 2005 to have its cuisine registered was rejected and jury is still out on a current request from Iran to have the Persian New Year feast included.

Italy is also rumoured to be considering an application for its own culinary status. But perhaps the real test will be if Britain ever tries to convince the rest of the planet that its rich tradition of stodgy puddings should be declared part of the world’s heritage.

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