On January 20, 2026, Lee Kum Kee and UNESCO launched the Forever Flavors Project in Beijing. The initiative aims to create a global archive of food memories by collecting stories from individuals, families, and communities around the world.
The project treats flavor as more than sensory preference. A familiar dish can carry identity, migration, family history, craft knowledge, and emotional connection across generations.
Four Areas of Cooperation
Lee Kum Kee and UNESCO described four priorities for their collaboration:
- Protect culinary cultural heritage.
- Support the development of young culinary talent.
- Create platforms for cross-cultural dialogue.
- Encourage public participation in preserving shared food memories.
The Forever Flavors archive is the first initiative under that framework. Members of the public can contribute stories through text, video, or photography. Selected contributions may appear on project and partner platforms and receive a unique archive number.
Professional chefs and home cooks are also part of the project, allowing documented memories to move back into living practice.
Food as Living Heritage
Professor Shahbaz Khan, director and representative of UNESCO's Regional Office for East Asia, described food as living heritage that carries memory, identity, and emotion. It connects generations and can support cultural identity and sustainable development.
At the launch, chefs, writers, creators, and an inheritor of Shaoxing culinary heritage shared personal food stories. Their examples ranged from family recipes passed between generations to flavors associated with homesickness, cultural belonging, and emotional recovery.
The shared idea was that flavor acts as an emotional anchor. A recipe survives not only because ingredients and instructions are recorded, but because people continue to cook, taste, remember, and explain why it matters.
Why a Condiment Brand Participates
Lee Kum Kee was founded in 1888 and grew from oyster sauce into a global portfolio of more than 300 sauces and condiments sold in over one hundred countries and regions.
The company framed its participation around the continuity of everyday cooking. A stable flavor can become part of a family's repeated meals, celebrations, and memories. Preserving food culture therefore aligns with the long-term role the brand wants to play in kitchens and at dining tables.
The partnership also shows how a company can engage with culture without reducing it to a short advertising asset. UNESCO contributes heritage expertise and an international public-interest framework. Lee Kum Kee contributes culinary networks, communication reach, and a history connected to Asian food traditions.
The credibility of the initiative depends on maintaining that distinction and ensuring that community stories remain cultural records rather than product endorsements.
An Archive Must Remain Alive
Food heritage is difficult to preserve through static documentation alone. Recipes change across regions, generations, ingredient availability, and personal memory. The same dish can hold different meanings for different families.
A useful archive should therefore capture context as well as instructions:
- Who prepared the food?
- When and where was it eaten?
- Which ingredients or techniques were distinctive?
- What event, migration, or relationship gave it meaning?
- How has the dish changed over time?
Text can preserve narrative. Video can capture movement and technique. Photography can record tools, ingredients, and table settings. Together, these formats can show both the material and emotional dimensions of a food tradition.
Flavor as a Cross-Cultural Language
Food is often the first point of contact with another culture. Sharing a meal can make difference approachable and create a direct setting for curiosity and conversation.
The Forever Flavors Project uses personal stories rather than abstract national labels. That approach can reveal how culinary traditions travel, mix, and remain meaningful in ordinary life.
Its long-term value will depend on the diversity of contributions, responsible stewardship of community material, accessibility of the archive, and continued participation after the launch period.
If those conditions are met, the project can do more than collect nostalgic stories. It can make culinary heritage visible as a living network of memory, craft, identity, and connection.