The cultural agency of the United Nations recorded the culture of cooking borscht soup on Friday Ukraine In its list of endangered cultural heritage, it was urged by Kyiv but strongly opposed by Moscow.
Ukraine regards borsch – a thick nutritious soup usually made from beetroot – as a national dish, although it is also widely consumed in Russia, other ex-Soviet countries, and Poland.
The culture of Ukrainian borsch cooking was “inscribed on the list of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Protection today” by the UNESCO Committee.
UNESCO said the decision was approved after a fast-track process prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the “negative impact on this tradition” caused by the war.
Kyiv applauded the move, with Ukraine’s Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko saying on Telegram that “the victory in the Borsch war is ours … will win both in the Borsch war and in this war.”
The purpose of adding soup culture to the UNESCO list is to draw attention to ensuring that it is preserved despite the risks to its existence.
The committee stated that the war had “threatened the viability” of the soup culture in Ukraine.
“The displacement of people (has become a threat) … because people are unable not only to cook or grow local vegetables for borsch, but also to come together … which undermines the social and cultural well-being of communities does.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the move as a bid to create “one people … one nationality … this is xenophobia”.
But UNESCO notes that Ukrainian borsch was a version of a dish popular elsewhere and essential to daily life in the country.
“Ukrainian borsch – the national version of borscht consumed in many countries of the region – is an integral part of Ukrainian family and community life”.
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