Specialist in cultural rights and food heritage and IGCAT Expert from Peru and the United Kingdom, Dr. Adriana Arista-Zerga joins the jury of IGCAT’s Top Foodie Websites Award 2026.
A lawyer by training and holder of a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Adriana’s interdisciplinary career bridges law, anthropology, and cultural heritage. She also holds Master’s degrees in Anthropology and Human Rights, as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) from the University of Nottingham, where she serves as Assistant Professor in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies.
Her work centres on the safeguarding of both tangible and intangible heritage, with extensive fieldwork experience across Latin America and beyond. Adriana contributed to the inception phase of UNESCO’s International Food Atlas and Digital Platform for the Safeguarding, Promotion, and Transmission of Foodways to Future Generations, and remains actively involved in its development. She has also collaborated with UNESCO Quito on safeguarding intangible heritage during the COVID-19 pandemic and worked within the Community Participation Area of Peru’s Qhapaq Ñan UNESCO World Heritage Project, focusing on community engagement and heritage management.
A co-author of a landmark study for IBERCOCINAS on cuisines as cultural heritage and creative economy, Adriana is widely published and frequently invited as a speaker at international forums. Her expertise in cultural rights, foodways, and heritage policy brings a rigorous and critical perspective to the evaluation of digital platforms that communicate culinary traditions and cultural identity.
