Belgium seeks to have potato fries declared cultural heritage

比利时炸薯条也要申遗

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.

在比利时,不同语言区的人几乎没在同一件事上达成过共识,但在为比利时炸薯条申请世界文化遗产这件事上,大家却表现出惊人的一致.若通过世界文化遗产申请,未来比利时薯条将与中国京剧、阿根廷探戈等艺术齐名.

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.

比利时炸薯条一般在街头小店或手推车上售卖,通常装在一个圆锥形的纸袋里.在比利时的大街小巷总共有五千余家炸薯条店面,换算起来人均数是美国麦当劳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.

比利时炸薯条要得到联合国教科文组织的认可,需要首先得到比利时文化部长的支持,而比利时有三个文化部长.

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.

佛兰德斯荷语区政府已于今年承认炸薯条为比国文化不可或缺的一部分.预计法语区与德语区将在明年就此事展开讨论.