Pizza should not be part of school canteen menus in Russia. This position has been held by Elena Yampolskaya, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin, who argues that this food is not healthy for children and should be replaced with traditional Russian dishes.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Yampolskaya has proposed that pizza be replaced with kulebyaka, a traditional Russian pie with various fillings. She stressed that schools should promote the country’s gastronomic heritage and give children the opportunity to get to know traditional Russian cuisine.
“Pizza absolutely should not be a food that is available in schools. It is not good for students’ health. It is one thing for a child to eat it somewhere with their parents’ permission, perhaps to celebrate something, but it is another thing for pizza to be available in the school canteen. I am very surprised that this is possible,” she said.
The debate was also fueled by a reaction from pro-Kremlin propagandist Vitaly Borodin, who described pizza as a “Western soft power in a cardboard box.” In a post on Telegram, he called for schools and universities to remove pizza from their menus and give priority to local dishes.
Borodin claimed that young Russians no longer recognize the traditional dishes of their country, calling on educational institutions to promote Russian gastronomic culture more.