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Belgium Wants UNESCO to Add its Local Fries to Heritage List

Yucel Bas prepares fries at Bas Frietjes frites stands in Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium, Dec. 4, 2014. (Reuters)
Yucel Bas prepares fries at Bas Frietjes frites stands in Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium, Dec. 4, 2014. (Reuters)
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Belgium Wants UNESCO to Add its Local Fries to Heritage List

Yucel Bas prepares fries at Bas Frietjes frites stands in Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium, Dec. 4, 2014. (Reuters)
Yucel Bas prepares fries at Bas Frietjes frites stands in Sint Pieters Leeuw, Belgium, Dec. 4, 2014. (Reuters)

Only people who tasted Belgian fries can understand their great appeal. Belgian fries shops want the future generations to enjoy this experience, so they have tabled a request with Flemish authorities to apply for UNESCO world heritage.

Belgian beer culture received UNESCO nomination in 2016, and fries should follow suit, said the president of a union that represents the owners of fries stands.

People take Belgian fries shops as a given, something that will never disappear. But as Bernard Lefevre, president of the union points out, more and more of the mom-and-pop stores, usually run by couples, are disappearing.

“The culture of fries is rooted in all of us. We're used to it, like a fixed value in our lives, therefore, we have to continue to protect it”, he said.

Belgium can propose a UNESCO candidate every two years, and its regions are taking turns in suggestions, according to media reports.

Flanders included fries in its list of intangible and cultural heritage in 2014, and the Flemish region will follow next year.

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UK Farm Swaps Milk for Cow Cuddles

Visitor Jess Tinton embraces a cow during a "Cow Cuddling" experience at Dumble Farm in Arram, Britain, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Visitor Jess Tinton embraces a cow during a "Cow Cuddling" experience at Dumble Farm in Arram, Britain, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble
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UK Farm Swaps Milk for Cow Cuddles

Visitor Jess Tinton embraces a cow during a "Cow Cuddling" experience at Dumble Farm in Arram, Britain, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Visitor Jess Tinton embraces a cow during a "Cow Cuddling" experience at Dumble Farm in Arram, Britain, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.

Dumble Farm started as a dairy farm in the 1970s, but in recent years flooding washed out crops and killed off the type of grass the cows like to eat, while milk prices below cost of production proved an insurmountable challenge, Reuters reported.

"The amount of flooding and the pressures on our land were just making it unsustainable for us to carry on," said Fiona Wilson, co-owner of the farm.

Agriculture is one of the sectors worst-affected by climate change, with farmers in Europe and elsewhere suffering under increasing heat, drought and flooding.

In 2022, Dumble Farm sold all but a few of its dairy cows and, in a scramble to reinvent itself, began offering "cow cuddling" experiences to fund a wildlife conservation scheme.

For 95 pounds ($127.80), visitors can cuddle, brush and stroke the cows as they lie down on a straw-covered enclosure inside a barn. The experience includes a safari to see Highland cattle.

"It's been so worth it, just to get so close to the cows, and they are so loving and gentle," guest Emma Hutton, 25, said after she spent some time cuddling one of the cows.

It took over a year to train the cows to feel comfortable with cuddling, but now the animals have fully adjusted, farmer James McCune said.

"They like being pampered. They are like big dogs... It's more of a spa day for the cows," McCune said. The farm uses the proceeds to create habitats to protect wildlife and support declining species, such as lapwing birds.

"It's great that we can fund the conservation scheme by having visitors to the farm, and that's really the bigger picture," Wilson said.