Belgium seeks to have potato fries declared cultural heritage

比利時炸薯條也要申遺

Belgium seeks to have potato fries declared cultural heritage

There are few things people agree on in linguistically divided Belgium, but an effort to get Belgian potato fries recognized as global cultural heritage and put it on a par with Peking opera and the Argentinian tango may get unequivocal support.

在比利時,不同語言區的人幾乎沒在同一件事上達成過共識,但在為比利時炸薯條申請世界文化遺產這件事上,大家卻表現出驚人的一致.若通過世界文化遺產申請,未來比利時薯條將與中國京劇、阿根廷探戈等藝術齊名.

Belgian fries are traditionally sold, in a paper cone, in a "fritkot", generally a shack or trailer. There are some 5,000 of these in Belgium, making them 10 times more common, per capita, than McDonald's restaurants in the United States.

比利時炸薯條一般在街頭小店或手推車上售賣,通常裝在一個圓錐形的紙袋里.在比利時的大街小巷總共有五千余家炸薯條店面,換算起來人均數是美國麥當勞10倍多.

To become recognized by the United Nations' cultural arm UNESCO, they need to be endorsed by a minister of culture, and Belgium has three of them.

比利時炸薯條要得到聯合國教科文組織的認可,需要首先得到比利時文化部長的支持,而比利時有三個文化部長.

The government of the Dutch speaking region of Flanders recognized Belgian fries as an integral part of national culture this year, and the French- and German-speaking communities are expected to debate the issue next year.

佛蘭德斯荷語區政府已于今年承認炸薯條為比國文化不可或缺的一部分.預計法語區與德語區將在明年就此事展開討論.