approach: eating. This makes possible tasting new flavors, discovering unknown food products or cooking techniques, socializing with local populations, etc. Under French law, there is no specific branch dedicated to legal protection of gastronomy. Hence, for instance, the setting up of a restaurant is not subject to any licence or diploma. Everybody can set up a restaurant. Nevertheless, we can find a huge set of rules that indirectly aims at protecting and promoting gastronomy, via consumer law, business law and rules (to ensure good practice in respect of food hygiene and safety, etc.) … Can gastronomy be protected and promoted through other means? In France, one of the approaches that has been chosen to promote internationally French gastronomy was to obtain protection as an “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. Indeed, through an application to the UNESCO such a protection has been granted in 2010. The UNESCO Committee approved the French application (Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 5.COM 6.14) drafted as follows: The gastronomic meal of the French is a customary social practice for celebrating important moments in the lives of individuals and groups, such as births, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, achievements and reunions. It is a festive meal bringing people together for an occasion to enjoy the art of good eating and drinking. The gastronomic meal emphasizes togetherness, the pleasure of taste, and the balance between human beings and the products of nature. Important elements include the careful selection of dishes from a constantly growing repertoire of recipes; the purchase of good, preferably local products whose flavours go well together; the pairing of food with wine; the setting of a beautiful table; and specific actions during consumption, such as smelling and tasting items at the table. The gastronomic meal should respect a fixed structure, commencing with an apéritif (drinks before the meal) and ending with liqueurs, containing in between at least four successive courses, namely a starter, fish and/or meat with vegetables, cheese and dessert. Individuals called gastronomes who possess deep knowledge of the tradition and preserve its memory watch over the living practice of the rites, thus contributing to their oral and/or written transmission, in particular to younger generations. The gastronomic meal draws circles of family and friends closer together and, more generally, strengthens social ties. 134 VALÉRIE AUGROS
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