TEHRAN – Iran has joined an online campaign launched by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to promote gastronomy as an essential part of tourism, a senior official with the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ministry, has said.

The gastronomic project is part of the #TravelTomorrow campaign that seeks to highlight the fundamental and enduring value of tourism, including the culinary heritage of UNWTO member countries.

As part of the project, each country highlights one of its famous national foods, and Iran has produced a short video presenting Qanbar-Polo that is cooked in the southern city of Shiraz, CHTN quoted Mohammad Qassemi as saying on Wednesday.

Each country’s food is being promoted through videos, photos and original recipes on the UNWTO’s official website.

As the coronavirus pandemic has hit the tourism sector over the past few months, the UNWTO aims to show how culinary heritage gives people a strong sense of belonging and brings a touch of local flavors to their homes to keep the dream of future travel alive.

Experts say that food is not merely an organic product with biochemical compositions. However, for members of each community, food is defined as a cultural element.

Iranian cuisine, usually dominated by fragrant herbs, varies from region to region. It principally accentuates freshness, deliciousness, and colorfulness.

The hashtag #TravelTomorrow encapsulates the message ‘By staying home today, we can travel tomorrow’, through which the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) calls for shared responsibility among travelers and the tourism sector around the world to deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

ABU/MG