Chinese food- or at least some portion of it - may be soon joining the likes of kimchi and Mediterranean food on Unesco's list of intangible cultural heritage items.

中国美食，或者至少是其中一部分，可能将很快加入韩国泡菜和地中海食物的行列，进入联合国教科文组织(Unesco)的非物质文化遗产名录。

The Chinese Cuisine Association, which tried to get Chinese cuisine on the list in 2011 when it proposed more than 30 foods and food-preparation techniques, is making another go at getting Chinese food on the organization's list. But this time, they're making a more targeted recommendation.

中国烹饪协会在2011年就曾试图让中国美食加入非物质文化遗产名录，并在当时申报了逾30种食物和烹饪技艺。如今，该协会再次作出尝试，然而这一次，他们的推进更加具有针对性了。

'One thing is certain,' says Bian Jiang, the association's vice director. 'We're not going to get Chinese cuisine in general listed.'

该协会副会长边疆称，有一件事是确定的，那就是该协会将不再会把中国美食打包申请了。

The association tried that tactic in 2011, he says. But the attempt didn't even make it past Beijing's Ministry of Culture, which has to approve all Unesco bids.

他说，该协会在2011年曾尝试过这一策略，但是甚至都没有在中国文化部获得通过。“申遗”均需要先获得文化部的批准。

So this year, the association is putting together a panel of experts to narrow down the list.

所以今年，该协会召集了一个专家团队来缩短名单。

'Chinese cuisine is so complicated and complex that it's hard for the Unesco officials to understand it as a whole,' Mr. Bian says. 'In the end, we will probably choose one specific food, like dumplings, or a kind of cuisine technique,' such as pickling, he says.

边疆称，中国美食体系庞大、复杂，Unesco官员把它作为一个整体去理解是很难的。他说，最终他们可能将会挑选一种特色食品（例如饺子），或者一种烹饪技巧（例如腌制）。

The intangible cultural heritage list is Unesco's attempt to honor things like rituals and community-based activities, intended especially for cultures that may not have Machu Piccus or Parthenons. The intangibility, in turn, sometimes translates into something as tangible as food and its preparation. In 2013, both Koreas' kimjang - the making and sharing of kimchi - and the Mediterranean diet made the list. The Mediterranean diet, Unesco says, brings about moments 'of social exchange and communication, an affirmation and renewal of family, group, or community identity,' which might be translated into drinking wine at three-hour lunches. Unesco

设立非物质文化遗产名录，目的在于对仪式和民俗文化表示敬重，尤其是对可能没有马丘比丘(Machu Piccus)或帕特农神庙(Parthenons)的文化。而非物质这个词，有时候就可以解读为美食及其工艺这类的东西。在2013年，韩国的泡菜（既包括制作又包括分享）以及地中海餐饮都进入了该名录。Unesco称，地中海餐饮反映了社会交流和沟通，是对家庭、集体或者社区身份的一种确认和延续，这也许可以解读为在一顿吃了三个小时的午餐时喝酒。

So which Chinese foods should make the Unesco list? Opinions are nearly as diverse as Chinese cuisine itself.

那么，哪些中华美食应该被列入Unesco文化遗产名录呢？就像玲琅满目的中华美食一样，人们给出的答案也是五花八门。

Judith Farquhar, author of 'Appetites: Food and Sex in Post-Socialist China,' says she'd go for dumplings.

《饕餮之欲：当代中国的食与色》(Appetites: Food and Sex in Post-Socialist China)一书的作者冯珠娣(Judith Farquhar)说，她认为饺子该上榜。

'They have a certain symbolic form, they have an inside and outside, and include meat and grain, the two fundamental divisions of food for Chinese cuisine,' she says. 'Dumplings have a social life - they're made in groups and eaten in groups.'

她说，饺子有特定的符号形式，有外表有内在，兼有肉和小麦这两种中华美食的基本元素。饺子拥有社交生活，它们成群做好，吃的时候也是成群下肚。

Qu Hao, a Chinese chef who won the China Golden Chef Award given by The Chinese Cuisine Association, recommends braised sea cucumber with leeks because it 'enjoys a long history,' he says. 'Many famous Chinese chefs have contributed to the development of this dish, and it's now widely known by Chinese people, even though it is a Shandong specialty. '

曾被中国烹饪协会授予“中华金厨奖”荣誉称号的屈浩推荐大葱烧海参，理由是这道菜历史悠久。他说，许多中国名厨为这道菜的发展做出了贡献，虽然这是一道山东名菜，但在国内家喻户晓。

Tim Sedo, a history professor at Concordia University in Montreal who makes a YouTube cooking series with his wife, has a different idea: Hangzhou food.

康卡迪亚大学(Concordia University)历史学教授塞多(Tim Sedo)给出了不同的答案：杭州菜。塞多和他的妻子制作烹饪系列视频，并在YouTube上发布。

To make a long story short, a famous Song dynasty hero named Yue Fei defended the country from northern invaders and became a folk hero and a symbol of loyalty. The story goes that he died in a Hangzhou prison - betrayed by his captors.

一些杭州菜具有历史渊源，宋代名将岳飞英勇抵抗大金国的侵略，成为名族英雄以及忠诚的象征。但他遭人背叛，据说是在杭州的一个牢中被毒死的。

Hangzhou, in turn, 'has a lot of food that represents the people's hatred for these people,' he says, such as the fried bread, youtiao, which stands for 'the frying of the two characters' who betrayed Yue Fei, says Mr. Sedo.

塞多说，正因为如此，在杭州有很多食物代表了对陷害岳飞的那些人的憎恨。例如油条，代表对陷害岳飞的两个人物施以下油锅的酷刑。

Mindi Schneider, a professor at the International Institute of Social Studies at the Hague in the Netherlands, goes one step further in her idea, recommending indigenous Chinese pig breeding - and the fatty pork that you get from it.

在位于海牙的国际社会科学研究所(ISS)担任教授的谢敏仪(Mindi Schneider)提出了更进一步的想法，推荐中国本土生猪养殖技术以及所得到的高脂肪的猪肉。

'China is the actual home of the pig, which was domesticated there between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. And each place has a local adapted pig breed. It's really diverse. You really need to preserve that indigenous livestock breed,' she says. Ms. Schneider published a four-page proposal for her idea.

她说，中国是饲养家猪的鼻祖，早在6,000至10,000年前就实现了家猪饲养。每个地方都有当地培育的生猪品种，各有不同。这些本土牲畜品种很有必要被保留下来。谢敏仪发表了一份四页纸的报告来阐述其想法。

No surprise that Shi Xiusong, chef and general manager of Da Dong Roast Duck restaurant, recommends his restaurant's specialty dish as a combination of inheritance and innovation with a storied history. Meanwhile, Shu Qiao, editor of the Chinese Epicure magazine and an author of several books about food, recommends fermented tofu and Shaoxing wine.

大董烤鸭店的厨师兼总经理石秀松推荐自己餐厅的特色菜肴，称其兼具传奇历史的继承和创新。与此同时，中国杂志《悦食Epicure》主编兼几本美食书籍的作者 俏推荐了臭豆腐和绍兴黄酒。

Unesco, for its part, has nothing to say about this stage of the process. 'We cannot speak about any specific possible nomination,' writes Frank Proschan, the Paris-based chief of the Programme Implementation Unit of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section at Unesco.

Unesco未透露评选的进程。该机构非物质文化遗产名录规划实施部门主管Frank Proschan称，他们不能谈论任何特定的提名。

After the Chinese Cuisine Association picks its top choice, it goes to the Ministry of Culture in March. In June or July, the Ministry will make its application to Unesco, but the results won't appear until the following November, Mr. Bian says.

边疆说，中国烹饪协会确定其首选提名后，将在明年3月申报至文化部。明年6月或7月，中国文化部将向Unesco申报，要到11月份才会有结果。

China has had luck with other intangibles on the Unesco list: using the abacus for mathematical calculations (2013), shadow puppetry (2011), acupuncture and moxibustion (2010) and block printing (2009). Maybe someday dumplings or fatty pork will join the canon.

在Unesco非物质文化遗产名录上，中国已取得的收获包括：使用算盘进行数学教学(2013年)，皮影戏(2011年)，针灸艾灸疗法(2010年)以及雕版印刷(2009年)。或许有一天饺子或高脂肪的猪肉也将上榜。

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哪些中国美食堪称世界非物质文化遗产