Ukrainian chef barred from opening restaurant in Japan as they believe "borsch is a Russian dish"

He wrote about this on Instagram.

Ukrainian chef, social activist, and ambassador of Ukrainian cuisine in the world Yevhen Klopotenko said that he had been negotiating the opening of a Ukrainian restaurant in Japan. However, the restaurateur received a negative response from the Japanese. The refusal was justified by the widespread belief that borsch is a Russian dish.

He shared a screenshot of the letter.

"In Japan, it is a very common belief that borsch is a Russian dish. As a result, the negative sentiment towards Russia doesn't leave a positive impression on the Japanese regarding borscht. The rest of the menu items are unfamiliar to the Japanese," the reply reads.

The chef himself believes that this is why the Japanese may avoid the restaurant, because "sane Japanese, fortunately, have historically been Russophobes." 

"You live your life, work, negotiate the opening of a Ukrainian restaurant in Japan. And here you are: the Japanese don't want to open a borsch restaurant because they have a widespread belief that borsch is a Russian dish," Klopotenko commented.

The restaurateur emphasized that the situation is "a great example of the depth of Russian propaganda."

"No, this situation does not reduce the scale of our efforts. It only means that we need to work even harder to popularize Ukrainian thought and Ukrainian cuisine in the world. We need to work harder to counter-propagate. And it's good that Ukrainians have no shortage of zeal," Klopotenko summarized.

In July 2022, the culture of cooking Ukrainian borsch was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

• Last year, Netflix released the Ukrainian documentary Borsch. The Secret Ingredient with chef Yevhen Klopotenko.