Did you know that dining is UNESCO-listed?

The gastronomic meal of the French is on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. I was not aware; thanks to Joe Ray's blog for the clue to this small piece of fascination.

The archetypal French dinner joins other manifestations of human behavior, including:

• The watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junks
  
• Falconry, a living human heritage
  
• The Mediterranean diet
  
• Grand song of the Dong ethnic group
  
• The scribing tradition in French timber framing
  
• Gingerbread craft from Northern Croatia
  
• The Maroon Heritage of Moore Town
  
• The scissors dance
  

I did not make any of those up.

Interestingly, it appears that there are no behaviors from or associated with the United States or Canada on the list. Ah, probably because neither are on the list of "States Parties." Probably because the role of States Parties requires that: Each State Party shall: (a) take the necessary measures to ensure the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage present in its territory ... “Safeguarding” means measures aimed at ensuring the viability of the intangible cultural heritage, including the identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission, particularly through formal and non-formal education, as well as the revitalization of the various aspects of such heritage.

I don't think much of that made it into the various proposed budgets this year.