form of intangible cultural heritage within the Cultural Heritage Act provides a robust legal basis for ensuring the active involvement of the Ministry of Culture in the formulation and implementation of the Draft National Strategy of Agrotourism Development in Albania, mentioned earlier here.66 In this context, Schreiber’s critique of the EU’s engagement with intangible cultural heritage is particularly relevant: she warns against the risk of reducing cultural expressions to instruments of economic growth or political integration. Rather, she advocates for a more critically informed and context-sensitive legal approach—one that acknowledges intangible cultural heritage not merely as a sectoral asset, but as a living repository of identity, memory, and cultural continuity deserving of selfstanding legal protection.67 IV. CONCLUSION: TOWARD A LEGALLY INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE GASTRONOMY IN ALBANIA The legal and policy landscape surrounding sustainable gastronomy in Albania reveals a fragmented, albeit evolving, framework in which key domains— agriculture; food safety, quality schemes and intellectual property; tourism; and cultural heritage—coexist without yet operating in full synergy. This analysis has demonstrated that while numerous legislative instruments, policy strategies, and institutional mechanisms exist across these domains, their current articulation lacks the necessary normative integration required to unlock the full potential of Albania’s gastronomic heritage as a vector for sustainable development. Agriculture remains the foundational pillar of gastronomic identity, yet it suffers from long-standing structural and legal weaknesses—land fragmentation, limited investment, and insufficient cross-sectoral planning—which continue to hinder the development of territorially anchored food systems. The Food Safety Strategy and the draft Law on Official Controls reflect Albania’s increasing alignment with EU standards, yet the quality schemes for agricultural products, such as Geographical Indications and Traditional Specialities Guaranteed, remain underutilised, despite the existence of several registered products and growing 66 To the date the draft strategy is a joint product of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Tourism, without the involvement of the Ministry of Culture. Post from the Ministry of Agriculture < https://bujqesia.gov.al/klos-nis-konsultimi-publik-per-strategjine-e-zhvillimit-te-agroturizmit/> accessed 27 August 2025. 67 Hanna Schreiber, ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage, Europe, and the EU: Dangerous Liaisons? In Andrzej Jakubowski, Kristin Hausler and Francesca Fiorentini, Cultural Heritage in the European Union (BRILL 2019) 324. 483 SUSTAINABLE GASTRONOMY IN ALBANIA
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