It officially received its name in 1920, when a new law established its minimum permissible weight (80 grams) and maximum length (40 centimeters).
The French baguette was added to the United Nations World Heritage List.
The Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted today to add it to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, which already includes around 600 items from over 130 countries.
The inclusion of the French baguette or “250 grams of magic and perfection”, as the president has described it Emmanuel Macronin her directory Unesco“celebrates the French way of life: the baguette is a daily ritual, a staple of the meal, synonymous with sharing and good cheer,” UNESCO head Audrey Azoulet said.
“It is important that these skills and social habits exist in the future.”
The long, crusty bread is a symbol of France around the world and has been a staple of the French diet for at least 100 years, although some believe its history is older.
According to a legend, the bakers of Napoleon Bonaparte invented the long, narrow shape of the bread to make it easier for his soldiers to carry, while another legend holds that the one who actually invented the baguette is an Austrian baker named August Zhang.
And a third myth links the appearance of the baguette to the construction of the Paris metro in the late 19th century and to the idea that baguettes were easier to wrap and share, thus avoiding fights between subway workers and the difficulty of finding a knife.
It officially received its name in 1920 when a new law established its minimum permissible weight (80 grams) and maximum length (40 centimeters).
Nowadays, the baguette (“stick”) is sold at the price of around one euro per piece.
Although baguette consumption has declined in recent decades, France still produces around 16 million pieces per day, or almost six billion baguettes a year, according to 2019 estimates by Fiducial.
Its dough is made with only flour, water, salt and yeast and must “rest” for about 15 to 20 hours at a temperature between 4 and 6 degrees Celsius, according to the French Bakers Federation, which is fighting to protect the product from the corresponding industrialized ones.
The ingredients are always the same, but each baker adds his own personal style. National competitions are organized every year to highlight the best baguette in the country.
France has lost every year since 1970 about 400 artisan bakeries, from 55,000 (one per 790 inhabitants) to 35,000 (one per 2,000) today.
This decrease is due to the spread of industrialized bakeries and the presence of supermarkets in rural areas where townspeople increasingly resort to buying sourdough bread or burgers instead of baguettes.
“Initially the baguette was considered a luxury item. The working class ate peasant bread which filled you up more,” explains Luak Bienassi of the European Institute for the History of Food and Cultures, who helped prepare the dossier submitted to UNESCO.
“Then its consumption expanded and the baguette conquered the province in the 60s and 70s,” he adds.
France submitted a request to UNESCO in early 2021 with baguettes eventually chosen over Paris tin roofs and the Arbois wine festival.
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