The Creative Cities Network

The Creative Cities Network

The Creative Cities Network, started by UNESCO in 2004, is one of the world’s highest-level non-governmental organizations in creative industry.

The network focuses on the excellence of its member cities as its main product, and finds ways to maintain relevance in city life, local economy and social development. There are seven fields of excellence: gastronomy, literature, film, music, design, media arts, and crafts and folk arts. Each field is assessed and to win the title a city should meet corresponding stringent standards.

To win the title of World Gastronomy Capital, the candidate city should live up to eight standards:

● Well-developed gastronomy that is characteristic of the urban center and/or region;

● Vibrant gastronomy community with numerous traditional restaurants and/or chefs;

● Endogenous ingredients used in traditional cooking;

● Local know-how, traditional culinary practices and methods of cooking that have survived industrial/ technological advancement;

● Traditional food markets and traditional food industry;

● Tradition of hosting gastronomic festivals, awards, contests and other broadly targeted means of recognition;

● Respect for the environment and promotion of sustainable local products;

● Nurturing of public appreciation, promotion of nutrition in educational institutions and inclusion of biodiversity conservation programs in cooking schools curricula.

(Source: www.unesco.org)