UNESCO declares borsch cooking an endangered Ukrainian heritage

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/01/ [login to see] /unesco-declares-ukraine-borsch-ukrainian-heritage
Ukraine's culture of cooking borsch, the hearty soup with beets and cabbage, has made it to UNESCO's list of heritage traditions "in need of urgent safeguarding" because of Russia's invasion.

Often written borscht in English, the soup is widely eaten across Eastern Europe and is extremely common in Russia. But Ukraine considers it a national dish, or as UNESCO put it: "part of the fabric of Ukrainian society, cultural heritage, identity and tradition."

"The victory in the war for borsch is ours!" Ukraine's Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko posted on Telegram, declaring the soup to be "officially" Ukrainian. "Remember and be sure: We will win this war like we did the war for borsch."

The matter of borsch heritage got political in recent years, as fighting escalated since 2014 in eastern Ukrainian regions that Russia recognized as independent right before invading the country in February. Russia has long claimed borsch as part of its own food tradition. The soup's tangled origins possibly trace back to ancient Kievan Rus, summarily nationalized in the Soviet Union.