Russia’s Chief Sanitary Inspector Gennadiy Onishchenko has urged Russians to refrain from eating hamburgers which he described as ‘foreign food’. The United States claims that Onishchenko’s statement has a political coloring. The Voice of Russia’s Yelena Kovachich has met with a number of food experts in an attempt to establish whether Russia’s chief medical officer is playing political games or is concerned about the health of the nation.
By: Yelena Kovachich, The attempts to interpret Onischenko’s critical remarks concerning hamburgers as a protest against the “pernicious” influence of the West are far-fetched. Since Russia has hundreds of McDonald’s outlets which yield good profit, it’s economic, not political motivation that is behind the dispute, says Pavel Salin of the Political Research Center. "Big politics are seldom behind such statements. As a rule, big money is behind. Even though sometimes these kinds of statements are politically motivated, as we witnessed in the case of Georgian-produced wines and mineral water, and Moldavian wines, these instances are fairly rare". Russia’s chief sanitary officer would hardly pursue any commercial gains unless they meant a healthier nation. Onishehchenko is concerned about the health of the nation. Everybody knows that hamburgers are junk food. In his book Fast Food Nation, American writer Eric Schlosser says that obesity is the second killer in the US after tobacco, as one fourth of the country’s adult population eat hamburgers as regular snacks. The number of obese people has doubled in Britain. The number of overweight people, particularly among the young, has been increasing rapidly in seafood and vegetable-loving Japan. No doctor would ever recommend a fast food diet. Onishchenko took a firm stand against hamburgers after a female customer recounted that she had discovered worms inside her McChicken box. A publication to this effect which appeared in The Washington Post described even the thought of it as revolting. It’s no wonder then that the Russian sanitary inspector reacted in such a way. According to Schlosser, hundreds of Americans have been killed by E.coli which was discovered in hamburgers and millions are poisoned by poor quality ingredients in McDonald’s food annually. As it happens, there is nothing insulting about the phrase “foreign food” for Americans. Onishchenko meant that Russians should eat food they are used to genetically. Eskimos eat raw frozen meat, Yakuts eat frozen fish, and Chinese adults don’t drink milk. National food traditions differ. As for the Russian food, it’s international, using a combination of different gastronomic preferences. Russians traditionally eat food from Asia, the Caucasus, Siberia. The European and French traditions are strong as well. From the French Russians have borrowed cutlets, omellettes, mousses and compotes. Russians are thus tolerant to foreign food. By and large, the hamburger should be “foreign” to the whole of humanity if people want to be healthy and in good shape." Source: Voice of Russia
By: Yelena Kovachich, The attempts to interpret Onischenko’s critical remarks concerning hamburgers as a protest against the “pernicious” influence of the West are far-fetched. Since Russia has hundreds of McDonald’s outlets which yield good profit, it’s economic, not political motivation that is behind the dispute, says Pavel Salin of the Political Research Center. "Big politics are seldom behind such statements. As a rule, big money is behind. Even though sometimes these kinds of statements are politically motivated, as we witnessed in the case of Georgian-produced wines and mineral water, and Moldavian wines, these instances are fairly rare". Russia’s chief sanitary officer would hardly pursue any commercial gains unless they meant a healthier nation. Onishehchenko is concerned about the health of the nation. Everybody knows that hamburgers are junk food. In his book Fast Food Nation, American writer Eric Schlosser says that obesity is the second killer in the US after tobacco, as one fourth of the country’s adult population eat hamburgers as regular snacks. The number of obese people has doubled in Britain. The number of overweight people, particularly among the young, has been increasing rapidly in seafood and vegetable-loving Japan. No doctor would ever recommend a fast food diet. Onishchenko took a firm stand against hamburgers after a female customer recounted that she had discovered worms inside her McChicken box. A publication to this effect which appeared in The Washington Post described even the thought of it as revolting. It’s no wonder then that the Russian sanitary inspector reacted in such a way. According to Schlosser, hundreds of Americans have been killed by E.coli which was discovered in hamburgers and millions are poisoned by poor quality ingredients in McDonald’s food annually. As it happens, there is nothing insulting about the phrase “foreign food” for Americans. Onishchenko meant that Russians should eat food they are used to genetically. Eskimos eat raw frozen meat, Yakuts eat frozen fish, and Chinese adults don’t drink milk. National food traditions differ. As for the Russian food, it’s international, using a combination of different gastronomic preferences. Russians traditionally eat food from Asia, the Caucasus, Siberia. The European and French traditions are strong as well. From the French Russians have borrowed cutlets, omellettes, mousses and compotes. Russians are thus tolerant to foreign food. By and large, the hamburger should be “foreign” to the whole of humanity if people want to be healthy and in good shape." Source: Voice of Russia
