In response to the perceived threat to French gastronomy from
globalization, the government attempted to officially preserve its
culinary status (Gordon and Meunier, 2001). In 1990, the French
Ministry of Culture initiated the Conseil National des Arts Culinaires
with the explicit purpose to preserve traditional French restaurants
and culinary traditions. In 2008, former president Nicolas Sarkozy
sought induction of French gastronomy into the UNESCO World
Intangible Heritage list (Martigny, 2010). Even though French
cuisinewas not ultimately admitted to the list, the French meal was
admitted.