Intangible Recognition

Are the Maltese language and Maltese cuisine, or at least aspects of it, worthy of being endorsed as manifestations of intangible cultural heritage of worldwide eminence by Unesco? This is what the government seems to reckon. Victor Paul Borg investigates.

The government has in recent weeks ratified the UN convention on intangible cultural heritage, set up a board to prepare bids by Malta to Unesco, and launched a website for this purpose. As for manifestations of intangible cultural heritage which have potential for inclusion, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici spoke about dialects in danger of disappearing from the Maltese language, as well as food or aspects of cuisine.

Yet the government’s enthusiasm is rather forlorn, or at least premature. The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is a coveted title, but getting on the list is notoriously difficult: fewer than 500 manifestations or elements in the past 10 years in 117 countries have been recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Chinese government has tried – and failed – twice (in 2011 and 2014) to get the bestowment for Chinese cuisine, and that rejection is dispiriting given the detailed, well-prepared application and corresponding lobbying, as well as the distinctiveness of Chinese cuisine. So, if Chinese cuisine failed to make the selection gauntlet, would Maltese cuisine stand a chance?

I know how well-prepared the Chinese bids were because it’s something I researched in China. In my decade there, I attended conferences and researched aspects of Chinese cultural heritage that made it to the Unesco list, and I journalistically delved into the Chinese government’s efforts to protect its vast intangible cultural heritage. China is in fact heavily represented on Unesco’s coveted list: it has 39 listings, one of the largest of any single country.

Defining intangible cultural heritage is the easy part: it is every aspect of a country’s or community’s heritage that cannot be displayed as a relic in a museum, or preserved as a building or monument, or preserved in situ. We are talking about traditional practices or crafts, cultural rituals (dances, performances), perishable cultural manifestations (food), aspects of national or regional identity (language), and so on. This makes manifestations of intangible cultural heritage ubiquitous, but Unesco’s list would have no meaning or purpose if everything were to be listed. So to narrow down the list to manageable levels, only those manifestations of intangible cultural heritage that are accompanied by highly-developed rituals or skills or cultural meanings, which are

outstandingly unique, and furthermore which may be endangered, are selected. In this sense every language is unique, and every language is intangible cultural heritage. But if many of the world’s 7,000-plus languages were to be listed then the list would lose its relevance. And if all the endangered languages were listed, there would be several thousand languages in need of safeguarding, and Unesco does not have the resources or funds to undertake such a task.

So here is where the selectivity comes in. Unesco, for example, recently listed the communication by whistling prevalent in small pockets of the mountains of northwest Turkey. It’s a remarkably highly-developed form of coded language using simple patterns of whistling for communication (I experienced something similar, using patterns of hoots uncannily similar to doves’ hoots, among a lost tribe who live in caves in a crater in an island in the Sulu Sea once).

The Maltese language? There is no chance it could make the list, no chance even that Malta’s dialects are distinctive and ritualistic enough. These dialects are something we ought to cherish, something

Only those manifestations that are accompanied by highlydeveloped rituals or skills or cultural meanings, which are outstandingly unique, and furthermore which may be endangered, are selected.

that enriche our culture, but on a global scale they lack the eminence and refinements necessary for Unesco’s list.

I also mentioned the importance of ritual in manifestations that make it to the list, and this is in fact why Chinese cuisine failed the selection gauntlet twice. Although Chinese cuisine is outstandingly unique, there is no cultural ritual involved in the preparation or eating of the food. Those rituals can be found in obscure, regional or local manifestations of the food in China, but not in the cuisine of the entire country (obscure ritualised or skilled local delicacies in China have been put on the list, but not the entire cuisine).

The closest Unesco has come to electing a country’s entire cuisine is French cuisine. Yet the title is for “the gastronomic meal of the French”: the ritual of the preparation and social sharing of the traditional French multi-faceted meal. There is the setting and dressing of the table, the social ritual of partaking in the meal, the ritualistic sequence of servings, the selection and matching of the wine with the food – these elements got French cuisine onto Unesco’s list, all the more so because the ritual is endangered in a fast-paced, fast-food era.

Mediterranean cuisine was also listed by Unesco, not so much for the food itself, but for the Mediterranean way of life that gave rise to the Mediterranean diet. Once again, it’s a diet that’s endangered by our hectic, supermarket-dominated era. (Malta doesn’t feature on the list of countries having a Mediterranean diet, possibly because Malta wasn’t a party to the convention at the time of the listing.)

Given these selection parameters, Maltese cuisine would likewise never make it on Unesco’s list, but obscure local aspects of it may well do. The making and eating of Gozo’s sheep cheese is the most obvious, if not the only, potential candidate in this sense. This ritualised, cultural manifestation hits all the right notes: a way of life has formed around the rearing of the sheep, the making of the cheese (pickled in vinegar, salt, and pepper) and thepreparation of dishes in which it is the predominantingredient are very distinctive; moreover, it’s a wayof life that is also endangered.

Other possible candidates in Malta are folksigning (ghana, which is highly endangered), themaking of traditional Maltese fireworks (whichhas spawned an entire subculture with its rituals,lexicon, passions, and so on), the construction oftraditional wooden boats (luzzu, a craft that’s alsohighly endangered), and perhaps even the makingand mounting of baroque street decorations fortown feasts (the community spirit, the rituals of thevolunteers who do all the work, the craftsmanship,and so on).

The five examples mentioned above might notseem like much, but if we do manage to get thatmany listed it would still be a feat given ourdiminutiveness as a country.

Italy, for example, only has eight listings - and thatincludes the “Mediterranean diet” that is shared among a group of countries. (M)