Rosół — traditional Polish broth soup — is increasingly being discussed not only as a culinary staple, but also as a living cultural practice connected with family life, hospitality, care, memory and intergenerational transmission.

As Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Public and Global Governance at the University of Warsaw, I am pleased that our Chair supports the initiative “Tradition of Broth in Poland”, led by the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów. The initiative aims to document and safeguard the tradition of preparing and serving rosół as an element of intangible cultural heritage, and to support future efforts toward its inclusion on the Polish National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

From the perspective of the 2003 UNESCO Convention, culinary traditions may constitute an important form of living heritage. They include not only recipes and preparation techniques, but also social meanings, shared practices, knowledge transmission and community-building processes connected with food cultures.

The discussion around rosół in Poland forms part of a broader international reflection on culinary heritage, visible in the recognition of food-related elements such as the Mediterranean diet, traditional Mexican cuisine, Washoku in Japan, Kimjang in the Republic of Korea, Joumou soup in Haiti, Tomyum Kung in Thailand, Italian cooking, and the culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking.

A full account of our activities in this area is available on the website of the UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Public and Global Governance.