UNESCO’s Cities of Gastronomy: The world’s meals capitals

The solar rises shortly within the Sonoran desert. By 6 a.m., the air is already scorched and smoky, infused with mesquite from a baker’s wood-fired oven. The loaves rise slowly, created from heritage wheat first planted right here centuries in the past. Tearing open the crust, its nutty sweetness carries each taste and reminiscence. Each grain remembers an extended line of farmers, floods, and fingers that refused to let it disappear. This is Tucson—the primary American metropolis to earn UNESCO’s title of City of Gastronomy.

This title has been bestowed to solely 56 cities on the earth, particular locations which have a good time how individuals develop, share, and maintain meals, proving that meals heritage is simply as important as language or structure. 

UNESCO’s City of Gastronomy title acknowledges how a metropolis feeds its soul. To earn it, a spot should show that meals is in its very DNA; rooted in native soil, traded in open markets, superior by spirited restaurateurs, taught in lecture rooms, and served with respect for the planet that grows it. Every 4 years they’re judged once more, to make certain the style of authenticity hasn’t light.

From the deserts of Tucson to the valleys of Parma to the rice fields of Battambang to Östersund’s frozen tundra, every of those cities carries the identical conviction: Food is greater than sustenance—it’s a vessel for reminiscence.

Food can remind us who we’re, the place we’ve been, and what we need to turn into.

Tucson, Arizona

In Tucson, the desert dictates the menu. Summers crack the soil open like terracotta; come monsoon season, cloudbursts flip roads to rivers. When UNESCO named Tucson the primary City of Gastronomy within the United States, it was recognising endurance—how farmers, cooks, and native producers have turned ancestral data into one thing that binds.

Renowned baker Don Guerra started Barrio Bread in his storage; right now it’s a Tucson landmark. “Bread tells Tucson’s food story one loaf at a time,” he says. “Since the UNESCO designation, I’ve seen our community come together around these local ingredients, [honoring] tradition while creating a model for a resilient, regionally connected food system that truly reflects the spirit of the Sonoran Desert.” His multi-textured loaves are emblazoned with a saguaro cactus; “an expression of our locale”.

South of the city, the San Xavier Co-op Farm, run by members of the Tohono O’odham Nation, tends crops that have sustained this landscape for centuries: tepary beans, cholla buds, and saguaro fruit gathered from cacti. “Each seed carries stories and songs,” says farm manager Amy Juan, “reminders that food is memory made edible.”

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Visitors can style that lineage throughout city: Sonoran sizzling canines at Aqui Con El Nene; crispy frybreads from Native American truck Popoverz; and carne asada at Tacos Apson. Even at old-guard establishments like El Charro Café, recipes for chimichangas and nopalitos trace Tucson’s deep blend of multicultural heritage. 

Parma, Italy

On the fertile plains of northern Italy, abundance itself has become a tradition. In Parma, the heart of Italy’s “Food Valley,” flavor is something codified, aged, and taught. The air smells of milk and salt, and taste is wrapped in cool linen and left to mature.

UNESCO named Parma a City of Gastronomy in 2015, recognizing not only its iconic protected foods—Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, and Colli di Parma DoP wines that can come from nowhere else—but also its ambition to innovate through education.

“The project proposes a new model of urban planning,” says Carlotta Beghi, the city’s UNESCO coordinator, “based on an innovative approach to identity, creativity, and sustainable development.” In Parma, children learn why tomatoes taste better in summer. At lunchtime, the schools serve pasta made from regional grains and vegetables picked from community gardens. At the university’s Seasonal School in Food City Design, students study how to build communities around food rather than convenience.

Taste that legacy at Caseificio San Pier Damiani, where wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano are turned by hand in warm brine, or over tortelli di erbetta with butter and cheese at Angiol d’Or, the place the Parmesan grater has been worn clean by a long time of use.

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Battambang, Cambodia

In Battambang, Cambodia, memory smells of lemongrass, prahok fish sauce, and woodsmoke. Along the snaking Sangker River—one of the most heavily mined areas in the world—the markets overflow with herbs: sawtooth coriander, holy basil, wild lime leaves. These are ingredients that survived years of destruction, sold alongside fried tarantulas, crickets, and giant water bugs. After decades in which so many food traditions were lost, cooking here has become a quiet form of restoration. 

At Lok Ov Pok (translated to “Father’s Restaurant”) home-style dishes tell generational stories of land and loss. “Battambang means anything delicious,” says owner Yong Leng Chhoeurt, referencing a song by the beloved local singer Sinn Sisamouth. “We cook the way our parents and grandparents did, using fresh seasonal produce from nearby farms and markets, but with modern ideas. It should feel like eating in my father’s dining room: Simple food, made with memory.”

Signature dishes include mee kola (noodles with egg, pork pâté, and pickled vegetables) and bok teuk amereuk, a local version of a classic Khmer salad served with tiny eggplants and herbs. These dishes, he says, “show who we are.”

This city is part of a global network of culinary diplomacy, proving that taste can build bridges. Battambang joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2023, recognizing its steeped traditions, resilience, and efforts to promote Khmer cuisine.

Östersund, Sweden

In Östersund, Sweden, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, memory ripens in the cold. For the 50,000 or so people who live here, the seasons are extreme: Long winters of darkness, summers brief and bright. It’s not where you’d expect to find a food capital. The rhythm of the land directs what ends up on the plate. Suovas reindeer meat, sweet, caramelized messmör cheese, and arctic char are the backbone of a cuisine that prizes ingenuity over indulgence.

One of the first cities ever named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2010, Östersund built its reputation on sustainability and small-scale craft. Local producers at Eldrimner, Sweden’s National Centre for Artisan Food, train new generations of cheesemakers and brewers in techniques used to preserve milk, berries, and meat through the long winters. “Goat cheese, cloudberry jam, and tunnbröd are the tastes of our region,” says Annelie Lanner of Eldrimner, “but they’re also lessons in resilience, proof that traditional knowledge can adapt to modern challenges.”

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That spirit infuses the kitchens of Östersund’s new generation. “Our ingredients reflect the climate,” says Johan Rudsby, chef and owner of Bua, “a short growing season and concentrated [flavors]. We preserve summer’s bounty—fermenting, smoking, and drying—to sustain us through the darker months.”

Chef and entrepreneur Fia Gulliksson, who helped champion the city’s UNESCO designation, sees this as the start of a broader movement. “Becoming a City of Gastronomy validated what many of us had long felt: That creativity, small-scale food production, and sustainability are deeply interconnected,” she says. “Even a small city in the north can lead the way toward a more regenerative food culture.”

The metropolis’s heating feeds on biofuel, one other expression of Östersund’s dedication to reside evenly on the land. In a altering local weather, this small northern city has turned preservation into artwork.