Haute Traditional Cuisines: How UNESCO s List of Intangible Heritage Links the Cosmopolitan to the Local

This chapter considers three examples, two of cuisines designated as UNESCO Intangible Heritage in 2010: French and Mexican, and one of the incorporation of a local ingredient into international touristic fare: Thai llama curry in Bolivia. The first two illuminates how the heritage and tourism scapes work to create haute traditional cuisines by linking domestic cuisines to food served in restaurants. The process of nominating and then celebrating these cuisines as intangible heritage carefully constructs and naturalizes the connections between the local and cosmopolitan. In the case of Thai llama curry, explores how an ingredient constructed as good to think in the context of Bolivian touristic cuisine became incorporated into a cosmopolitan cuisine catering to tourists. In 2010, the French gastronomic meal was added to UNESCO s List of Intangible Heritage. French cuisine dominates the fine dining of the industrialized world and the institutions that train chefs to participate in those networks.