A Taste of Excellence for Macau's Gastronomy

(Source: Travel Weekly China)

Macau's dedication to food and the important role it plays in developing tourism has been recognised by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

A spokeswoman for the Macao Government Tourism Office said the designation of Macao as a member city of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the field of Gastronomy "is expected to stimulate stakeholders in gastronomy and agents in other creative sectors to explore how culinary and other aspects of culture can fuse to diversify the economy".

Other Creative Cities of Gastronomy include: Chengdu and Shunde (China), Belém and Florianopolis (Brazil), Popayán (Colombia), Rasht (Iran), Parma (Italy), Zahlé (Lebanon), Ensenada (Mexico), Bergen (Norway), Jeonju (South Korea), Tsuruoka (Japan), Dénia and Burgos (Spain), Östersund (Sweden), Phuket (Thailand), Gaziantep (Turkey) and Tucson (USA).

Macao was among eight cities to be newly designated this week. The others were Alba (Italy), Buenaventura (Colombia), Cochabamba (Bolivia), Hatay (Turkey), Panama City (Panama), Paraty (Brazil) and San Antonio (USA).

Sixty-four cities from 44 countries have been designated as UNESCO Creative Cities in various fields.

Launched in 2004, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network was created to promote cooperation with and among cities that had identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable development in regards to economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects.