Failing to win on the military ground, Ukraine won a symbolic battle over Russia on Friday, as UNESCO recognized that the Russian invasion was jeopardizing the Ukrainian culture of borscht, a soup eaten on both sides of the border. .
“Victory is ours in the borscht war,” rejoiced in the wake of the UN announcement, Ukrainian Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkatchenko. Ukraine “will win both the borscht war” and the current conflict with Moscow, he wrote on his Telegram account.
Before the UNESCO Heritage Commission, Minister Tkatchenko had made more measured remarks. Despite the war, “many Ukrainian families are going to eat Ukrainian borscht today,” he commented. “In the destroyed cities, in the other countries which welcomed the Ukrainian populations, the Ukrainian borscht is a gastronomic symbol of our national identity”.
Borscht is a soup made from beets and cabbage, often accompanied by fresh cream, very popular in Central Europe, especially in Russia. It is commonly believed that this dish is of Ukrainian origin.
Invaded on February 24 by troops from Moscow who killed thousands of civilians and multiplied the destruction, Ukraine, while fiercely resisting the Russians, multiplied the diplomatic offensives against its adversary.
One of them concerns borscht. In mid-April, Ukraine requested the inclusion of this soup on the list of intangible cultural heritage in danger, considering that the conflict initiated by Russia threatened the “viability” of the tradition surrounding this dish.
Two months later, a UNESCO committee on intangible cultural heritage, meeting in extraordinary session, agreed with kyiv.
“The existence of this soup […] is not in danger in itself, but it is the human and living heritage which is associated with borsch which is itself in immediate danger because the capacity of the populations to practice, to transmit their intangible cultural heritage is seriously disturbed because of the armed conflict [et] in particular the forced displacement of communities,” Pier Luigi Petrillo, rapporteur for the dossier’s assessment committee, explained on Friday.
” Victoire “
“People are no longer able to prepare or even grow the local vegetables that are needed to prepare” borscht, nor can they come together to prepare this dish, he observed.
The armed conflict also destroys “the environment, the fauna, the flora”, further listed Mr. Petrillo. “For all these factors, it is necessary to carry out an urgent safeguarding of this element”.
“It’s definitely a victory on the cultural front,” rejoiced Ukrainian leader Ievgen Klopotenko on Facebook. “We had hundreds of pages of evidence that borscht culture was definitely Ukrainian, but all the Russian propaganda was against us.”
However, UNESCO has in no way attributed the paternity of borscht to Ukraine. Annoyed, Russia, through its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, denounced Ukrainian “nationalism” which it derided.
“If there is a need to explain to the world what contemporary Kievan nationalism is, I will mention this fact: hummus and rice pilaf are recognized as the national dishes of several countries. But, as I understand it, Ukrainianization applies to everything,” she quipped.
“What will it be next? Pigs will be recognized as a Ukrainian national product? launched the spokesperson, who had previously accused kyiv of “xenophobia”, “Nazism” and “extremism” for its politicization of borscht.
On Friday, Muscovites interviewed by AFP were less sharp.
UNESCO “made the right decision” because “Ukrainian borscht, with pampushka (garlic bread) and bacon, is like a trademark,” says Irina Velijantseva. And this 68-year-old retiree adds: “But I also make my own borscht and I have to admit that it’s not bad either. »