Ukrainian culinary master and restaurateur Evgeniy Klopotenko reported that he was refused to open an establishment of Ukrainian cuisine in Japan, explaining this by the fact that for the Japanese, borscht is associated with Russian cooking. He reported this on his Instagram account, writes WomanEL.
In his message, Klopotenko showed a screenshot of an email in which it was noted that in Japan there is a stereotype that borscht is a Russian dish, and that because of the negative Japan's perception of Russia, such an association does not evoke positive impressions of borscht among the Japanese.
The Star wrote:
You live for yourself, work, lead negotiations on opening a Ukrainian establishment in Japan. And here it is for you: the Japanese do not want to open a single establishment with borscht, because they, attention: «it is a common opinion that borscht— this is a Russian dish».
Publication by Klopotenko. Source: Instagram
Evgeniy described it as «an excellent example of Russian propaganda». He also noted that this incident only emphasizes the importance of Ukrainian culture and cuisine being more known and recognized in the world, and promised to work even harder on this.
«Borscht War» between Ukraine and Russia has been going on for some time, especially escalating after the Russian annexation of Crimea, the military conflict in Donbass and the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. For Ukrainians, this issue has become especially important and sensitive. Many are also interested in why Ukrainian cuisine includes Crimean Tatar chebureks and Hungarian bograch.