Belgium hopes UNESCO will say "cheers" to its beer culture

[rooster59]

Belgium hopes UNESCO will say "cheers" to its beer culture

Robert Hackwill

 

 

UNESCO is known for classifying certain places on the globe as worthy of World Heritage status, but the organisation also has a second category for what it calls “Intangible Cultural Heritage”, and Belgium is asking the UN body to give that status to its famous brewing and drinking culture.

 

“These breweries have created around them a beer culture. We have our pubs, we have our museums, we have feasts, we have the ritual of how to serve beer,” says Brewers’ Federation President Jean-Louis Van de Perre.

 

UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage Committee meets next week in Addis Ababa, when it will consider 37 practices in all, including Indian Yoga and Czech and Slovak puppetry. As these meetings can be thirsty work, Belgium’s beer culture should be in with a shout.

 

“Belgian beer is part of Belgian culture. You see it is now 6.30 pm and the bar is jam-packed. Everybody drinks beer to have a good time and unwind. I really think that to gather around a beer in a Belgian cafe is part of this culture,” said one young man in Brussels.

 

Belgium has some 200 breweries which turn out at least 1,500 different tipples, beer-based recipes, and 30 brewing museums. In a country with three languages and communities often in dispute, beer may be the great unifier.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-11-26

[Lupatria]

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

“Belgian beer is part of Belgian culture.

If one cuts beer with all kinds of flavors from garlic to chocolate and strawberries I would hardly call that a "culture".

[Enoon]

1 hour ago, Lupatria said:

If one cuts beer with all kinds of flavors from garlic to chocolate and strawberries I would hardly call that a "culture".

 

Not your "culture" so of course it doesn't count and isn't "real".

 

Pretty much the same thing gets written over and over again in these pages, day in day out, year in year out.

 

Thailand must seem very "unreal" to you, or maybe you live in Pattaya?

 

 

Edited November 26, 2016 by Enoon

[Cats4ever]

Support the push. There are too many "worry guts" types about. Most beer drinkers don't turn violent or nasty.

[NumbNut]

If you put to one side the invention of the wheel and man's discovery of fire, you could argue that no other single innovation by early mankind has had such a lasting and vital influence then the brewing of beer, and I'm not saying that because I like a brewski or seven.

 

Brewing beer made questionable water sources safe. So long as the water source was not too badly polluted you could brew safe beer from it. It wasn't that long ago that EVERYONE used to chugg down a beer, as they couldn't trust their local water supply.

 

So here's to beer... get it INTA YAAAAAAAAAA!!! 

 

Oh, and well done Belgium, home to some of the planet's great beers!

Edited November 26, 2016 by NumbNut

[Morch]

2 hours ago, NumbNut said:

If you put to one side the invention of the wheel and man's discovery of fire, you could argue that no other single innovation by early mankind has had such a lasting and vital influence then the brewing of beer, and I'm not saying that because I like a brewski or seven.

 

Brewing beer made questionable water sources safe. So long as the water source was not too badly polluted you could brew safe beer from it. It wasn't that long ago that EVERYONE used to chugg down a beer, as they couldn't trust their local water supply.

 

So here's to beer... get it INTA YAAAAAAAAAA!!! 

 

Oh, and well done Belgium, home to some of the planet's great beers!

 

 

[elgordo38]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

“These breweries have created around them a beer culture. We have our pubs, we have our museums, we have feasts, we have the ritual of how to serve beer,” says Brewers’ Federation President Jean-Louis Van de Perre.

 

And this is the seat of the EU? God help us. Maybe UNESCO could make the EU a cultural icon as well. Here today gone tomorrow. Wave bye bye. 

[NumbNut]

2 hours ago, Morch said:

 

 

 

What a top doco, thanks for that Morch! Top viewing!

 

Yep, a hottie in one hand and a coldie in the other, what more do you need eh?

Edited November 26, 2016 by NumbNut

[Morch]

7 minutes ago, NumbNut said:

 

What a top doco, thanks for that Morch! Top viewing!

 

Yep, a hottie in one hand and a coldie in the other, what more do you need eh?