In 2003, the US was a trying to drum up support for an invasion of Iraq. The "coalition of the willing" eventually reached as high as 49 members, though it was reduced by one after Costa Rica changed its mind. However, just three of those nations contributed troops to the invasion, namely the UK, Poland and Australia, with the others provided support once the invasion was complete.
One dissenter was France. In a "take that" moment, Representative Bob Ney, a Republican from Ohio who happened to be chairman of the House Administration Committee (which is in charge of operations of the Capitol), ordered that the word "French" be removed from all affiliated menus. That gave rise to a lunch of a hamburger with a side of "Freedom Fries." Said a French Embassy spokeswoman at the time, "We are working these days on very, very serious issues of war and peace, life or death. We are not working on potatoes."
Perhaps most notably in the Boston Tea Party, food has long figured in protests. In the 1960's Americans boycotted table grapes to show support for the United Farm Workers union, while the 80's saw boycotts of tuna over the killing of dolphins trapped in fishing nets. As society has gotten more polarized, so too have these boycotts, becoming as much about the media moment as driving actual change. Left leaning voters have rejected Goya products after the company's CEO praised then-President Trump, while right leaning voters have shunned Ben & Jerry's ice cream after they endorsed the Black Lives Matter movement.
While it might make for a good tweet or two, these campaigns really didn't have much effect on the specific company's bottom line. After all, liberals are as loath to give up their black bean soup as conservatives are their Chunky Monkey. And then there is the accidental, or certainly not-intentional association with a particular point of view. In 2017, in response to a request from a Twitter user if the company had "any memes" they could share, the fast-food chain Wendy's tweeted out a picture of Pepe the Frog with red pigtails, meant to resemble the firm's mascot. Quickly picked up by the Neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer, they noted that Pepe was also their mascot. Wendy's quickly deleted the post, and so thankfully was never targeted for its momentary elevation as "The official burger of the Neo-Nazi Alt-Right movement."
All this is backdrop to the current zeitgeist to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine by any means necessary. The sanctions that have bite, most notably the freezing of assets, closing of airspace and banking prohibitions, are real and powerful if not immediate. Many others are more symbolic, such as the Glasgow Film Festival withdrawing two Russian titles, or the International Cat Federation releasing a statement that "No cat belonging to exhibitors living in Russia may be entered at any FIFe show outside Russia, regardless of, which organization these exhibitors hold their membership in." And trying to get personal, there's this: "World Taekwondo has decided to withdraw the honorary 9th dan black belt conferred to Mr. Vladimir Putin in November 2013." That's gotta hurt.
For the regular citizen, there is little one can do short of sending money to various organizations. But many feel the need to do more, something tangible even if toothless. The obvious target is the foodstuff most associated with the country, vodka. Symbolically it may send a strong message, but in practicality or effect, not so much. The top brands may have a Russian pedigree, but have nothing to do with the country directly: Grey Goose is made in France, Absolut in Sweden, SKYY and Smirnoff in the US, Stoli in Latvia, and Tito's in Texas. If that's the approach you favor, open your fridge and make sure the ketchup and mayo are well separated, less they come together as Russian dressing. (FYI, that condiment was invented in New Hampshire, and got its name from the original recipe which included caviar.)
Still, even if individually you feel powerless against a greater evil, it helps to do what you can as a demonstration of support. So cancel your tickets to see the Bolshoi ballet. Take a hammer to a DVD of "Let's Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin." And when it comes time for dinner, pass on the blini and order the borscht.
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Marc Wollin of Bedford still likes vodka and tonic. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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