Italy Applies For UNESCO Designation For Pizza
Italy wants Neapolitan pizzas to be protected by UNESCO
There are some things that the Italians do better than the rest of us—and one of them is making pizza (sorry, New York and Chicago, nothing compares to a fresh pie in Naples). Now Italy is applying to have Neapolitan pizza making included in UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, The Guardian reports.
The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, or the True Neapolitan Pizza Association, defines Neapolitan pizza as being made only with 0 or 00 flour (or a combination of the two), having a crust that is no greater than three millimeters thick and meeting a slew of other specifications. There are also only two acceptable varieties: marina made with tomato, oil, oregano and garlic, and Margherita made with tomato, oil, mozzarella, grated cheese and basil.
French cuisine, the Mediterranean diet and washoku (a traditional cuisine of Japan) are already on the UNESCO list, so pizza's inclusion doesn't seem terribly out of reach. To boot, 850,000 people signed a petition for the inclusion, but ultimately it comes down to a vote of 200 countries, the result of which won't be revealed until 2017.