Life of pie

Thanks to Bob Lang for the tipoff here... a campaign to have the great British pie added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

In addition to the World Heritage Site listings, UNESCO has also recognised a list of things which are of cultural significance to a region or country. These include music and dance, art and handicrafts, products, customs and festivals - all unique to a particular location, or which originated there.

Check the visualisation here to explore some of the things which have gained a listing. They are tremendously variable.

There are around 800 of these cultural artefacts.

Here is the background to the campaign to have pies added.

Baked into our culinary DNA, pies have fed everyone from the working class to the aristocracy for centuries and reflect not only our national cuisine but also regional speciality. From the Devonshire Squab to the Shropshire Fidget, almost every part of the nation has created its own unique variety.

And whilst our nation has been the birthplace of many great dishes, we believe the pie deserves much greater recognition for its longstanding place in British culture and cuisine.

Every year countries can nominate one item to be considered for inclusion in the Representative List of Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In the past this has included successful applications such as Neapolitan Pizza in Italy, Belgian Beer, and the French Baguette.

You can browse the lists here. There are some intriguing cultural artefacts here that would be worth exploring in more detail.

Here are a few food related ones... how many of these are you familiar with?

Each of the entries on the list has more details and also a video or images of the activity taking place. Worth a bit of an exploration.