UNESCO Honors Lucknow's 2,000-Year-Old Culinary Heritage: Creative City of Gastronomy

Inarch Center
6 days ago
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Lucknow, India — In a significant boost for cultural heritage and historic preservation, UNESCO has officially designated Lucknow a “Creative City of Gastronomy”. This coveted title, announced on World Cities Day, October 31, 2025, at the 43rd session of UNESCO’s General Conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, recognizes the city’s profound and diverse Awadhi cuisine.

Besides Lucknow, which other Indian city is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for Gastronomy? ( To know the correct answer read this news properly)

Kolkata
Delhi
Mumbai
Hyderabad

This designation is particularly relevant for archaeology students and professionals, as it underlines the importance of preserving culinary traditions rooted deeply in material culture and history.

A Crucible of Two Millennia: The Historical Foundation

To earn the UNESCO City of Gastronomy title, a city must demonstrate a gastronomic culture that is deeply tied to its history and identity. Lucknow's history provides that depth, as the region of Awadh has been a crucible for a medley of cultures and civilizations for over two millennia.

The city's celebrated cuisine is a syncretic blend of Hindu and Muslim, Indic and Persian influences, which evolved through centuries of royal patronage and cultural cross-pollination, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries. Lucknow earned epithets such as ‘The Golden City of India’ and ‘Shiraz-e-Hind’ for the refinement and epicurean excellence that stemmed from this distinct mix of traditions.

The culinary legacy includes mastery of the slow-cooked dum pukht technique and a repertoire spanning kebabs, kormas, biryanis, sheermal, and shahi tukda. Beyond the courtly cuisine of the Nawabs, the city’s bazaars, such as Chowk, Hazratganj, and Wazirganj, act as "living canvasses" of street food, where royal recipes were adapted by generations of cooks for everyday people.

Documenting Material Culture: Kitchens as Artifacts

A core aspect that led to UNESCO’s recognition is the active continuation and preservation of this heritage. This preservation effort extends into the sphere of cultural institutions, making tangible connections between food and the archaeological record:

Institutions like the Lucknow Bioscope Gallery have oriented themselves as conservationists of Lakhnaviyat, showcasing the city’s cuisine, art, music, and literature.
The gallery’s 2024 exhibit, Lucknow ke Bawarchikhane (Lucknow’s Kitchens), physically recreated kitchens in their many avatars—domestic, commercial setups—and displayed vessels and utensils used in large-scale cooking.
The exhibit also featured an uber-realistic model of the traditional Lakhnavi Dastarkhwan pinned on the wall.

This documentation of domestic and commercial spaces, cooking technologies (vessels, utensils), and dining traditions (the Dastarkhwan) provides invaluable archives for students studying historical anthropology and material culture.

Global Recognition and Future Heritage Conservation

Lucknow is only the second Indian city to receive the Creative City of Gastronomy title, following Hyderabad in 2019. It is one of 69 cities worldwide to hold this specific title, and 21 of those are in Asia.

For the city, this recognition is described by officials as an opportunity to promote culinary heritage and heritage conservation, support small food entrepreneurs, and develop food-led tourism circuits. Officials plan to use the designation to strengthen training, improve market access, and implement sustainable practices that protect both the culinary traditions and the livelihoods dependent upon them.

Crucially, the UNESCO title is not permanent; these cities undergo a review every four years to ensure they are still upholding their commitments to sustainability, respect for the environment, and promotion of local products.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, welcoming the news, stated that Lucknow is synonymous with a vibrant culture, at the core of which is a great culinary culture. I am glad that UNESCO has recognized this aspect of Lucknow and I call upon people from around the world to visit Lucknow and discover its uniqueness.

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat noted that this honor enhances Lucknow's global stature, positioning it as a premier destination for food and culture, and opens new avenues for heritage conservation and international collaboration.

Just as an archaeologist might painstakingly uncover and catalogue ancient pottery fragments to reconstruct a civilization’s diet and daily life, UNESCO’s recognition of Lucknow’s gastronomy elevates the city’s ongoing, living food traditions—from royal kitchens to street vendors—into a globally acknowledged form of intangible cultural heritage, demanding commitment to its preservation for future generations.

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