Anger is a powerful motivator in life, even if it is often used without thought or reflection and, in retrospect, seems something close to ignorance. Nothing combines all these elements better than our tendency as a species to childishly rename a thing if we are angry at the one most associated with the original name, as if that might convey a political message to someone.
10. Kiwi used to be Chinese gooseberry
Kiwi fruits are a sweet and tangy treat with distinctive bright green flesh that makes them delicious and appealing. They are so closely associated with New Zealand that we even call New Zealanders kiwis.
The fruit is native to China and was only introduced to New Zealand in 1904. At that time it was called the Chinese gooseberry, a name that has remained until 1959 when New Zealand officially changed the name of its export to kiwifruit.
New Zealand's efforts to export kiwifruit began in the 1950s, and thanks to the Cold War, the name "Chinese gooseberry" was not exactly popular in America. Even part with gooseberries was bad. They actually tried calling them melons for a while, except melons were heavily taxed, so that was a bad idea too. Kiwi was suggested, and judging by that fruit's current popularity, it was a good choice.
9. Sauerkraut became Liberty Cabbage in 1918.
Nothing stops human creativity like war, it seems, and we'll get there soon enough. Sauerkraut, for example, is so inextricably linked with Germany that Germans were sometimes derisively called "Fritz." The name sauerkraut simply means "sour cabbage," but it's one of the foods most closely associated with the country.
When World War I broke out, German culture was no longer considered something to celebrate in America, and some efforts were made to eliminate references to anything German in the U.S. Sauerkraut fell victim to this movement, and for a time some renamed it cabbage of freedom .
Sauerkraut producers in America were losing significant amounts of money on their product and were openly asking the government for help in the press. They proposed changing the name to please people and bring sauerkraut back to dinner tables.
8. French fries became French fries during the Gulf War.
One of the most famous cases of food being renamed to spite another nation occurred during the Gulf War and rout Freedom Fries In 2003, when America prepared to invade Iraq, not all of its allies were ready for military action. France, in particular, objected to the American approach.
With many seeing France's opposition to the war as a betrayal, anti-French sentiment grew in America, reaching a turbulent, oily head when a restaurant owner V North Carolina decided to take French fries off its menu, at least in name. They became Freedom Fries, and the move made national headlines. It even inspired some members of Congress to change the name of the fries in the Capitol cafeteria.
For its part, France responded by suggesting that the world was busy with something rather important, and they didn't have much time to bother with what people called potatoes. The fact that French fries aren't even French, but Belgian, may or may not have emerged at the time.
7. Iran turned Danish pastries into Mohammed's roses
You know a food is truly related to the people who made it when it’s known only by their name. In fact, Danish food may be the only food that this applies to. Everything else tends to use at least one other word. Turkish coffee. Irish cream. French bread. Not Danish. The name doesn’t tell you anything about what you’re eating, only where it came from.
In 2006, Danes faced resistance in Iran after a Danish newspaper published photos Prophet Muhammad. This, as you know, is strictly forbidden by the Muslim faith, and some people take it quite seriously. Or as seriously as you think changing the name of a confection can be.
In any case, for some time the name was replaced by "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad" . Not as succinct as the original, but certainly contrary to what offended people in the first place. The change was ordered by the Iranian Confectioners Union, and as a result, some bakeries simply covered up the word "Danish" on their signs.
6. Chicken Kiev became chicken Kiev
Chicken Kiev was a classic restaurant dish that's actually quite rare to find on menus these days because it's considered a bit old-fashioned, like steak Diane or chicken cordon bleu. It's basically just a flattened chicken breast, dredged in some sort of herb butter, then coated in egg and breadcrumbs before frying. But it's also quite controversial.
Chicken Kiev is gradually being replaced Chicken Kiev . The difference is not in the recipe, but only in the name. Kyiv was the name of the Ukrainian city when the country was under Soviet rule. This is also Russian spelling. Kyiv is how Ukrainians know it in Ukraine, and they want people to call it that, not what the Russians gave it.
Changes have been slow, but the 2023 war has galvanized the efforts of people supporting Ukraine to the point that there are evenfrozen main versions of the dish, which are now marked with Ukrainian Kievan spelling.
5. Americano coffee in Russia has become Russian-style coffee
Americano coffee is made with espresso and water. It's not exactly revolutionary, but people like it and you can find it on menus all over the world. Well, maybe not Russia. In 2014, some coffee shops in the country renamed Americano coffee to Rusano coffee after Russia's prime minister joked that Americano was politically incorrect and an Armenian politician responded by suggesting Russian .
In 2014, Russia was in the middle of another conflict with Ukraine and they were not happy with America's position, so the idea that America would be politically incorrect. Even though the Russian speaker's comment was an offhand remark by politicians, people took it seriously enough to include it in the menu .
4. Greek coffee is basically just Turkish coffee with a different name.
Russia was by no means the only country in the world to get excited about its international coffee. Greece was again decades ahead of them when they had political differences with Turkey.
Despite some of these name changes, Greek coffee has survived, and if you go to Greece today, you can still find it everywhere. However, if you go to many other countries and order Turkish coffee, you may notice that it is very similar to Greek coffee. The reason for this, of course, is that it is much of a muchness .
Turkish coffee is traditionally brewed in copper pots with very fine grounds, and ends up being much thicker than the coffee you get at Starbucks. However, it is very popular among coffee lovers, including in Greece.
Türkiye invaded Cyprus back in 1974 , and Greece, being quite close to Cyprus, did not take kindly to it. So, to thumb its nose at the Turks, as the children say, Greece excluded Turkey from its coffee and renamed it.
If you travel around Europe a lot, you can find the same drink in any number of countries where they have changed the name, probably for the same reason - Turkey has had a lot of hostile relations with other countries in the past. Armenian coffee, Bosnian coffee, Cypriot coffee, it seems like they all started with Turkish coffee.
3. Berlin doughnuts became Kitchener buns
There is a popular urban legend that President John F. Kennedy once gave a speech in which he accidentally called himself a jelly donut Often referred to as the "ich bin ein Berliner" speech, it has been suggested that the translation is "I am a jelly doughnut" because a Berliner is actually a kind of doughnut, despite Kennedy trying to say that he was a Berliner or a citizen of Berlin.
This story is not true, and everyone in Germany would have understood Kennedy's words perfectly well, as he intended. However, it is true that there is a kind of doughnut called a Berliner. And then for a while there wasn't.
Berliners never caught on in North America, perhaps because they were already called jelly doughnuts there. But in Australia, in particular, they were well known before World War I. Just as the war turned Americans off sauerkraut, it turned Australians off Berlin donuts At the time, parts of Australia had strong German roots, so the Berliner became common. But due to anti-German sentiment in the wake of the war, it was given a new name - Kitchener bun .
Lord Kitchener was a famous British field marshal and also Secretary of State for War when the First World War broke out, making him basically the opposite of any German. It was the most un-Germanic name a pastry could get.
Canada did very similar things during the war. In Ontario, there was a city populated mainly by Germans known as Berlin. In 1916, to distance itself from the war, the city was renamed Kitchener , and still retains this name.
2. Hamburgers became freedom sandwiches during World War I.
Historically and gastronomically, Germans can't catch a break. After losing sauerkraut and Berliners, one of the few things Germans had left, although it may hardly be German, was the hamburger.
Once again, during World War I, when America was rabidly against all things German, a staple of the fast food industry was knocked off its feet. You see, hamburgers got their name from Hamburg, Germany. There, the concept of grinding up meat with some seasonings became famous. The result was a meat patty called a hamburg steak , which was popular but expensive. But it wasn't a hamburger, it was just meat.
The concept of the Hamburg steak came to America with German immigrants long before the war, and some unknown innovator came up with the idea of making it easier to eat by putting it on bread. So it was probably invented in America using the German concept.
Regardless of the true origins of the hamburger, during the war the name was used by some too german , and, in keeping with the uncreative concept of renaming at the time, someone came up with freedom sandwiches We can all be grateful that the name didn't stick.
1. Putin was renamed because of the Russian-Ukrainian war
Sometimes you really have to reach out to make these name changes make sense, and that was the case in 2022 when a restaurant in Quebec decided to rename the quintessential Canadian junk food poutine. Poutine, if you're not familiar, is French fries topped with cheese curds and hot sauce. It's a staple at restaurants across Canada, and can also be prepared in countless variations, including everything from fried onions to pulled pork and brisket.
As a result of Russia's war against Ukraine in 2022, a Montreal restaurant owner named Laurent Proulx, whose restaurant claims to in 1964 he cooked the world's first poutine, renamed the dish to the extremely uncreative " cheese sauce with fried cheese ".
What does all this have to do with the war in Ukraine? While much of the English world pronounces poutine as “poo teen,” that’s not how you pronounce it in French. It’s closer to “puh tin,” which is how you pronounce Vladimir Putin’s name in French.
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