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Pizza Is Apparently Western Soft Power—And Russia Wants It Out of Schools
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Pizza should have no place in Russian schools, said Elena Yampolskaya, an adviser to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as officials increasingly frame even school food through the lens of Moscow’s confrontation with the West, according to TASS on November 5.
Yampolskaya argued that pizza is unhealthy for children and should be removed from school cafeterias.
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“Pizza is definitely not the kind of food that should be present in educational institutions. It is not healthy for students. It is one thing when a child enjoys it somewhere with their parents’ permission, perhaps while celebrating something, and another when pizza is available in a school cafeteria. I am very surprised that this is even possible,” Yampolskaya said, according to TASS.
She also urged state schools to reflect the country’s broader policy of “returning what is ours,” arguing that traditional Russian cuisine should take the place of foreign dishes.
“We have an enormous heritage, including wonderful Russian cuisine and a wonderful Russian table. Let’s at least give our children a chance to try it,” Yampolskaya said while commenting on a proposal to replace pizza with kulebyaka , a traditional Russian stuffed pie.
She argued that many families do not have the time or resources to prepare traditional dishes at home, meaning schools should take on that role.
The proposal follows an earlier campaign by Vitaly Borodin, a Russian activist known for denunciations and efforts to restrict cultural and public activity.
Borodin demanded that pizza be removed from school cafeterias on explicitly political grounds, pointing out that Italy is officially considered an “unfriendly” country by Moscow and supplies weapons to Ukraine.
“For a thousand years our grandmothers baked pies, and now they are selling us an Italian flatbread with ketchup… This is not ‘just food’ at all, but soft power in a cardboard box,” Borodin said.
He called for Russian schools to more aggressively promote traditional dishes such as kulebyaka, kurnik , rasstegai , and other staples of Russian cuisine instead.
Previously, reports emerged that Russia has transformed its educational system into a sweeping mechanism for military indoctrination and anti-Western propaganda, effectively rolling back decades of post-Soviet academic autonomy.
Labeling the fight for children’s minds as a “new front,” Russian leader Vladimir Putin has mandated a nationwide “federal programme of upbringing” aimed at cultivating militaristic patriotism. This systemic ideological overhaul spans all educational levels, culminating in the formal introduction of state-sponsored patriotic curricula inside Russian kindergartens.
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