French baguette rolls onto UN’s heritage list

The humble baguette, France’s staple bread, has made it onto the UN’s cultural heritage list.

UN heritage body Unesco this week voted to include the “artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread” on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which includes 600 traditions from more than 130 countries.

The baguette, a symbol of France around the world, has been a central part of the French diet for at least 100 years, though some believe it has been around for longer.

One legend has it that the bakers of Napoleon Bonaparte came up with the elongated shape to make it easier for his troops to carry, while another says it was an Austrian named August Zang who invented the baguette.

These days a baguette — which means “wand” or “baton ”— sells for around €1 (about R18).

Though baguette consumption has declined over the past century, France still makes around 16-million of the loaves a day — 6-billion a year — according to a 2019 Fiducial estimate.

Made with flour, water, salt and yeast, baguette dough must rest 15 to 20 hours at a temperature between 4°C and 6°C, according to the French Bakers Confederation, which fights to protect its market from industrial bakeries.