Manakish nominated to be added to Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage list

The popular Levantine flatbread will be eligible for consideration next year

A Lebanese baker prepares manakish at Global Village in Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Popular Levantine flatbread manakish has been nominated for Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. It will be considered for inscription next year.

Updated annually, the list by the UN agency safeguards traditions and ways of living in the face of increasing globalisation. Earlier this month, 47 new traditions or customs from across the world were inscribed on to the list at the 17th session of the intergovernmental committee held in Rabat, Morocco.

Sahar Baassiri, Lebanon’s ambassador and permanent representative to Unesco in Paris, announced on Thursday that all necessary paperwork has been submitted to have manakish added to the list next year.

"Manakish has become a candidate for Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage," Baassiri posted on Twitter, adding that the breakfast staple popular in the Arab world could join the French baguette and Italian pizza on the Unesco list.

The French baguette was inscribed to the list in November while the Italian pizza was added in 2017.

According to baking-history.com, manakish can be traced back to ancient Phoenicia (2500 BC – 539 BC) where people would make stone wheels and crush wheat into flour in order to make bread. The dough was usually made by women and baked in the morning in communal oven. They would make smaller portions of dough, topped with eggs and cheese to give to the family for breakfast.

Though it is known for its preservation of physical monuments all over the world, Unesco also considers “oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe” as intangible heritage that it seeks to preserve.

Of the 47 new traditions and customs inscribed this year, many are from the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria and North African nations.

Scroll through the gallery for some of the newly inscribed Intangible Cultural Heritages