Agricultural Biodiversity and Cultural Heritage

Culture and agriculture are intimately related, even at the level of the term ‘agri-culture’. The Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted in 2003 and entered into force in 2006. According to UNESCO, traditional Mexican cuisine is a comprehensive cultural model comprising farming, ritual practices, age-old skills, culinary techniques and ancestral community customs. It is made possible by collective participation in the entire traditional food chain: from planting and harvesting to cooking and eating. The ‘Mediterranean diet of Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Cyprus and Croatia’ was also inscribed in UNESCO’s list in 2013. The gastronomic meal of the French is another expression of intangible cultural heritage which has, since 2010, been inscribed in UNESCO’s list. UNESCO defines the gastronomic meal of the French as ‘a customary social practice for celebrating important moments in the lives of individuals and groups, such as weddings, birthdays, achievements and reunions’.