Who thought ‘sanctioning Russia’ would become the new cool. The latest manifestation in the bandwagon is from the Communist Indian state of Kerala wherein a cafe has decided to de-table a dish called ‘Russian Salad’ amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The move came after the cafe decided to remove the Russian dish from its menu in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
Russian salad off the menu too. This appears to be from the Kashi art cafe in Kochi, Kerala. A really nice place that I’ve been to many times over the years. Sincere, perhaps, but totally ridiculous. (via @VJ290481) pic.twitter.com/6TgBy1xhOj
— Edward Anderson (@edanderson101) March 3, 2022
If you plan to take a stroll through the alleys of Fort Kochi today, you are most like to stumble upon a board outside the famous ‘Kashi Art gallery and Cafe’ saying, “In solidarity with people of Ukraine, we have removed ‘Russian salad’ from our menu,” The move most naturally made wave on social media with photographs of the message board creating a buzz overnight.
While sanctions on Russia have been calculated as cancelling everything Russian, the move to de-table the ‘Russian Salad’ serves as an Indian variant to the ‘Russian Vodka’ being pulled out of supermarkets in the US and Canada. What went equally out of the park was owner Edgar Pinto’s justification for this move. “It wasn’t any kind of publicity, we simply wanted to say no to war. Being art lovers, we believe in freedom of expression and this was one way we thought we can show our support to people in Ukraine.”
According to Pinto, his cancelling of ‘Russian Salad’ came under the guise of Freedom of Expression. “We just wanted to take a stand where we wanted humanity to prevail and condemn the monstrous attacks being carried out on innocent people by Russia,” he said while talking to the Indian Express about his decision.
The absence of sense while boycotting Russia is yet another pandemic that has groped the world. In a similar sentiment, A Pub that was originally named ‘Putin’ in Isreal’s Jerusalem changed its name ‘Zelenskiy’ after the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Pub “Putin” in Jerusalem has changed its name pic.twitter.com/DZUjrOz92B
— Michael Brodsky (@michael_brodsk) March 7, 2022
There was also news of Russian cats being banned from pet competitions across the world. From lighting monuments in the colours of the Ukrainian National flag to banning everything and everyone remotely related to Russia, the solidarity for Ukraine in the woke world, will not be expressed in real hard-power but rather in political self posturing.
