Dr Onishchenko Urges “Food Patriotism” Over Sushi and McDonald’s

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On Tuesday, RIA-Novosti reported that Dr Gennady Onishchenko, RF Chief State Sanitary Doctor {head public health official in the RF, the Russian analogue of the US Surgeon General: editor}, urged Russians to eat healthier by exercising “food patriotism”, eating “traditional” dishes instead of dining on “exotic oddities” such as McDonalds and sushi bars. Onishchenko urged caution with raw and cultured fish dishes, saying that no additional public health inspections of sushi restaurants are planned for the coming months, saying, “We continue to be vigilant about sushi-bars from a cultural point-of-view, but we aren’t instituting special measures to monitor them”. Last June, Onishchenko warned about the dangers of “gastrointestinal adventures”, stating, “We are a people with established traditions in food, and we mustn’t be seduced by exotic types of food, particularly, a diet of raw fish, when it isn’t prepared by Japanese people“.

26 June 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_26/Russia-urges-food-patriotism-over-sushi-McDonalds-1926/

Editor’s Note:

Dr Onishchenko isn’t saying that sushi’s bad… he’s saying that sushi prepared by cooks not trained in traditional Japanese cuisine under Japanese masters are apt to get things wrong, and there’s no margin for error with raw fish. He’s also right in saying that you can upset your tummy with too much unfamiliar food. In any case, most Russians are quite content with kasha, shchi, pelmeni, and kolbasa… that sounds like good eats to me, too…

BMD