The Doner Kebab isn't British, it is now the representative cuisine for the whole of Europe.

This might be the real reason UNESCO picked up the Mediterranean cuisine of Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Portugal to preserve and save in its paperwork and filing vaults. I can't speak for the African country, but for the European side, youngsters in all those countries are more likely to be eating kebabs regularly than dumplings/balls simmered in chicken stock, sardines, olives brined with bitter mountain herbs (rather than the sweet, anchovy infused manzanilla variety) or any of the other traditional foods they turned their nose up at when at their grandparents' house - mama would be at hand with some jarred sludge from Nestlé so there was never a need to expand their palates with "real" food.

It's come to a point where regular tourists (some Brits and Germans have conscientiously managed to pull this off for years) are going to Spain and never eating any Spanish food. We have a fine example in these reviews left by a recent traveller in the Spain/Portugal forum:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/spain...rt-review.html
&
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/spain...rt-review.html

RichardInSF - you may have put your finger on the real reason why these cuisines are being recognised by UNESCO. They are in real danger of being usurped by kechi-ryori (skinflint food) in this era of young people raised with luxuries having to adapt to austerity measures and dual income households with long working hours.