Chinese food is launching its second attempt to join UNESCO's cultural heritage list.

Representatives of the eight major Chinese cuisines recently gathered in Beijing to discuss how to win UNESCO recognition. Will Chinese food succeed now, after its first attempt was rejected three years ago? How are the preparations going? And what development opportunities will a successful UNESCO world heritage listing bring to the Chinese restaurant industry overseas? We now go to Luo Wen for answers to these questions.

Reporter:

China's millennia of cuisine are world famous. Many Chinese dishes--Peking duck, hotpot and Sichuan beef--are popular both in and out of the country. But none of them has yet made it onto the UNESCO list.

In 2011, the first bid was made for recognition... but the attempt was rejected at the UNESCO meeting held in Bali, Indonesia.

Bian Jiang is the deputy director of the Chinese Cuisine Association, the main body for the UNESCO application designated by China's Ministry of Culture. He sums up why Chinese food failed to convince the international judges three years ago.

"First of all, we weren't very familiar with the evaluation principle and bidding procedure of food-related intangible cultural heritage; Secondly, the application failed to present the food's cultural impact to the judges."

In 2013, South Korea's Kimjang, the making and sharing of kimchi, won a spot on the list of UNESCO's world intangible cultural heritages. Washoku, or traditional Japanese cuisine, and ancient Georgian traditional wine-making were added to the list during UNESCO's 8th intergovernmental council in Azerbaijan - the same meeting where Chinese zhusuan, abacus calculation, was listed.

UNESCO experts say South Korea's Kimjang made it to the list mostly for its impact on people and society, like improved relations within the community when people share kimchi, the solidarity and joy it brings, the different ways of making it and how it's eaten.

So based on China's neighbor's success, Bian Jiang says this time the Chinese Cuisine Association will shift its emphasis from food to the more intangible ingredients, such as cooking skills, cuisine styles, methods of eating, the stories behind the food and the culture it promotes.

According to Secretary General of the China Cuisine Association Feng Enyuan, it could be very hard for China to select one single dish to represent the whole country's food culture.

"Chinese food culture is extensive and profound, it's not an easy job to select only one or two dishes that represent the best of Chinese food. So far, eight cuisines have gained the most votes, including Peking duck, traditional New Year's dinner, dumplings, moon cakes, tofu, Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles, hotpot and Zongzi, or glutinous rice dumplings. We are still selecting the best ones. Another challenge is how to explain the food to the world. The Chinese way of cooking is so complicated that even the Chinese can't understand it, so we have to find a universal language to strike a chord with judges who come from different cultures."

Recognition for food-related items is not new. France's multi-course gastronomic meal, with its rites and presentation, was one of the first to make the list in 2010. Earning UNESCO status at the same time was traditional Mexican cuisine, and the Mediterranean diet of Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Portugal.

China currently has 29 items on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and seven on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. But none of them is food related.

Bian Jiang believes that's a great pity.

He says that the development of Chinese civilization somehow evolved around gourmet culture. For example, ding, an ancient cooking vessel with two loop handles and three or four legs, was also a symbol of the dynasties of ancient China.

Many important festivals in China are marked by food. Spring Festival starts traditionally with a bowl of "eight treasure" congee, followed by the making and eating of Jiaozi or boiled dumplings, on Spring Festival Eve and Spring Festival Day. It ends with the eating of rice balls called Yuanxiao on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year.

Bian adds that good food is heartwarming, and is often part of the memories one has of the place where he or she grew up.

That opinion is echoed by this lady in Wuhan, who says she couldn't start a day without a bowl of reganmian, hot dry noodles.

"We Wuhan people love Reganmian. It's an important part of our breakfast. It is what we grow up eating. I miss the taste if I don't eat it for two days. It is an eating habit that's passed down several generations."

She says Reganmian noodles contain sodium carbonate. They have a special flavour because they are dried and then boiled, and served with fragrant sesame oil and sesame paste.

Bian notes that there are already 50 food-related intangible cultural heritage items recognized on a national level. Many of these are liquors like Mouta and Wuliangye, and tea-making techniques, such as green tea, black tea, oolong and Pu'er. Peking duck, like the Quanjude and Bianyifang restaurants, are on the list. Luoyang's "water banquet" preparations, Sichuan Fuling's zhacai, and Confucius family cuisine preparations are all listed as national intangible cultural heritage.

Bian Jiang says intangible cultural heritage status will help raise the international image of Chinese cuisine, and promote development in the Chinese food industry.

Andrew Chiu owns a Chinese restaurant chain in Wellington, New Zealand.

"No doubt a successful entry onto the world heritage list will help westerners learn more about Chinese cuisine. China has so much great food that it deserves more international recognition."