The United Nations Cultural Agency on Friday placed the culture centered around the beetroot soup, known as borscht in Ukraine, on its list of endangered cultural heritage, recognition Kviv is keen to seek following its invasion by neighboring Russia .
Ukraine values borscht, a nutritious beetroot-based soup, as its national dish, though it’s also widely eaten in Russia, other former Soviet countries, and Poland.
The Ukrainian culture of borscht cuisine “was today inscribed by a UNESCO committee on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Protection,” it said.
The decision was approved after an accelerated process prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the “negative impact on that tradition” of the war, the agency said.
“In addition to cooking or growing local vegetables for borscht, people can come together” to eat it, “undermining the social and cultural well-being of communities,” it said, using one of several alternative spellings for the soup.
Kyiv hailed the move as a much-needed victory on the cultural front after four months of Russian bombing.
For the first time in history, the nomination was brought forward and considered in an accelerated manner in the face of “real-time military aggression against Ukraine and the real threat to cultural property,” Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzeppar said on Twitter, adding, “Ukrainian borsch derussified!”
Ievgen Klopotenko, a well-known Ukrainian chef, said the UNESCO decision underscores wider recognition of Ukraine’s gastronomic heritage.
“We had hundreds of pages of evidence that the borscht cooking culture is actually Ukrainian, and the whole engine of Russian propaganda was against us,” he said on Facebook.
“Victory in the borsch war is ours,” Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko told Telegram, adding that Ukraine “will win both the borsch war and this war.”
– ‘Fabric of Society’ –
The inclusion of a landmark or traditional activity on the UNESCO list aims to mobilize attention to ensure it is protected from risks that would threaten its existence.
The committee said the war threatened “the viability” of Ukrainian borscht culture in Ukraine.
“Whether as part of a wedding dinner, at the heart of gastronomic competitions or as a motor of tourism, borscht is seen as part of the fabric of Ukrainian society, cultural heritage, identity and tradition,” it noted.
But Moscow slammed the decision, and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Kyiv of trying to make the soup for “one people… one nationality… This is xenophobia,” she said.
She later said on Telegram, “To give the world a culinary example of ‘modern Kiev nationalism,’ I will cite one fact: hummus and pilaf are recognized as national dishes of several nations.”
“Borsch has no nationality! Like bread, potatoes, cabbage – is it national? What nationality can it be!” a 60-year-old pensioner in Moscow gave her name, Tatyana told AFP.
But Alexey Gorbunov, a 49-year-old decorator in Moscow, was more likable.
“Certainly it’s part of Russian and Ukrainian heritage, but I think it’s an explicit symbol of Ukraine that I directly associate with Ukraine, especially the one with pampushka (savory buns) and garlic,” he said.
UNESCO insisted that Ukrainian borscht is a version of a dish popular elsewhere.
Still, “Ukrainian borscht — the national version of borscht consumed in several countries in the region — is an integral part of Ukrainian family and community life.”
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