Arepas Colombia and
Venezuela have a "heated and longstanding rivalry" over the origins of the
arepa. The dish is a staple of both cuisines. Venezuelan president
Nicolás Maduro "has tried to use arepas as a nationalist rallying point, if not a political tool, claiming the food is from his country alone", according to the
New York Times. but according to historian
Alison K. Smith, the dish's "Ukrainian origins have been largely obscured" as it became ubiquitous in Russian cuisine. The dish was described in
Sergei Drukovtsov's
Cooking Notes (1779), In response, Ukraine applied for the inclusion of borscht in the
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List and launched a five-year
culinary diplomacy strategy dubbed 'borsch diplomacy' where borscht plays a central role. UNESCO added the soup to the organization's list for Ukraine in 2020. Shortly after the 2022
Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian
Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Maria Zakharova said the fact Ukrainians "didn't want to share borscht" was an example of alleged "xenophobia, Nazism, extremism in all forms" that led to the invasion. Shortly after, UNESCO added "Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking" to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, citing the invasion. According to
The Smithsonian, "The designation by the international cultural authority was widely seen as a landmark decision in the ongoing cultural dispute between the two countries on borshch’s true country of origin."
Chinese cuisine Taiwan has presented
Taiwanese cuisine as the only remnant of traditional Chinese culture and cuisine, which the
Nationalist Party argued had "been destroyed on the Chinese Mainland after the Communist takeover". In 2011, the
Michelin Green Guide to Taiwan attributed the origins of
minced pork rice to
Shandong. This led to a fierce debate in Taiwan with many people insisting that minced pork rice originated in Taiwan, while others viewed it as a Shandong dish that simply caught on in Taiwan.
Shanghainese people have criticized the Taiwanese restaurant chain
Din Tai Fung of misrepresenting the
xiao long bao as a Taiwanese dish. In October 2020, a
Japanese bakery ''c'est très fou'' launched the product "Taiwanese
pineapple bun", which received criticism from
Hong Kongers for suggesting the product originated in Taiwan.
Dolma Dolma or tolma is claimed by both
Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Armenia holds an annual tolma festival, always at a site that has historical significance in its
conflicts with Azerbaijan. The competition between the two countries over ownership of the dish is sometimes referred to as the "Gallo Pinto War".
Falafel Falafel is argued over by Israel and various Arab states; according to Jennie Ebeling, writing in the
Review of Middle East Studies, the dish "is loaded with issues of national identity". According to Alexander Lee, writing for
History Today in 2019, "More often than not, arguments about the origins of falafel are refracted through the lens of political rivalries. Particularly for the Israelis and the Palestinians, ownership of this most distinctively Levantine dish is inexorably bound up with issues of legitimacy and national identity. By claiming falafel for themselves, they are each, in a sense, claiming the land itself – and dismissing the other as an interloper or occupier." The dish features prominently in
Israeli cuisine and has been called a
national dish. Some Palestinians and other Arabs have objected to the identification of falafel with Israeli cuisine as amounting to
cultural appropriation. Palestinian author
Reem Kassis wrote that the food has become a proxy for political conflict. The dish and its politico-cultural significance were the subject of a 2013 documentary by Ari Cohen,
Falafelism: The Politics of Food in the Middle East. According to the
Toronto Star, Cohen intended the film to be about "the unifying power of falafel". The earliest documented references to falafel date back to late 19th-century Egypt, following the British occupation in 1882. In 2002,
Concordia University's chapter of
Hillel served falafel at an event, prompting accusations of appropriation from a pro-Palestinian student group.
Feta Until 1999, the term
feta was used only by Greek producers. During the 1990s, Denmark and Germany challenged the labelling, arguing that the word 'feta' was Italian and that other EU countries shared climate and geography with parts of Greece and should be permitted to label their feta-style cheeses as Feta.
Hainanese chicken rice Hainanese chicken rice is claimed by both Malaysia and Singapore. The conflict dates to 1965, when the two countries split. Both countries claim its origin and accuse the other of having appropriated the dish into their own national cuisine.
Harissa Harissa is claimed by both Armenia and Turkey, where it is called
keshkek. The disagreement is sometimes referred to as the "hummus wars". However, the earliest mention of Hummus comes from a 13th-century cookbook written by the Syrian historian
Ibn al-Adim. The strongest evidence currently points to Syria as the origin of Hummus.
Jollof rice West African countries typically have at least one variant form of
jollof rice, with
Ghana,
Nigeria,
Sierra Leone,
Liberia and
Cameroon particularly competitive as to which country makes the best jollof. In the mid-2010s this expanded into the "Jollof Wars". The rivalry is especially prominent between Nigeria and Ghana. In 2016
Sister Deborah released "Ghana Jollof", which denigrated the Nigerian version and Nigerians for being proud of their version. Soon after, a physical fight over insufficient jollof supplies at a Ghanaian political rally sparked delighted mockings of Ghanaians by Nigerians. North Korea argues that South Korea's decreasing consumption (and increasing commercialization of production) is proof that the dish is more strongly associated with North Korea. Japan also has interested itself in kimchi, arguing with South Korea over the
Codex Alimentarius Commission's (CAC) international standardization of the dish, a disagreement often called the
kimchi war. In 2020 the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced regulations for the Sechuan pao cai. It is claimed by both Malaysia and Singapore. Bulgaria requested
protected geographical indication from the European Union; Serbia objected.
Tortillas During Mexico's
tortilla riots, protesters chanted, "
tortillas si, pan no!", expressing their nationalistic objection to replacing tortillas, with which they identified on a nationalistic level, with bread, which they saw as a colonialist introduction.
Turkish coffee UNESCO has included
Turkish coffee in its list of items of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Washoku Washoku, a traditional food culture of the Japanese, was in 2013 added to the
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List and in 2017 described by
Leiden University's Katarzyna J. Cwiertka as "a myth fabricated for the purpose of Japanese nation-branding". According to Ichijo and Ranta, Japan's efforts to promote Japanese cuisine in other countries is "regarded as a way of increasing export of Japanese agricultural produce and attracting more tourists". == See also ==