French bakers want UNESCO designation for baguettes

The baguette - a mix of wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and a pinch of savoir-faire and as much a symbol of France as the Eiffel Tower - may soon join UNESCO's listing of cultural treasures.

(CNN) — The baguette - a mix of wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and a pinch of savoir-faire and as much a symbol of France as the Eiffel Tower - may soon join UNESCO's listing of cultural treasures. Bakers say the traditional craft loaf, whose purchase from the local bakery has for decades been a ritual in French daily life, is being pushed off shop shelves, even in France, by frozen bread sticks made on giant assembly lines. "There's not one single secret to making a good traditional baguette," said Mickael Reydellet, owner of eight bakeries. "It requires time, a savoir-faire, the right way of baking, good flour without additives."