January 17, 2018
MEDIA RELEASE
MY KITCHEN RULES (MKR) CONTINUED SUPPORT OF HAMMER AND SICKLE
WHY NOT COOK UP WHAT PRISONERS WERE FED IN THE GULAGS – RECIPE PROVIDED
My Kitchen Rules has now removed the large Hammer and Sickle from their promos – however have sneaked it onto a matryoshka doll.
The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) together with others continues with its campaign to have the hammer and sickle totally removed.
It seems difficult for MKR to admit it has been insensitive and offensive.
For those who still doubt the atrocities committed by those who represented the Hammer and Sickle and what it represented we suggest that they make it compulsory reading of publications by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Anne Applebaum and others – selected titles below
The Challenge to MKR and the Russian contestants
As MKR is so infatuated with the hammer and sickle and what it represents the AFUO suggests that contestants consider preparing meals served in the Gulags under communists’ rule based on the following information –
Food in the Gulags
There was a system that prisoners were fed based on their work output. Under this system the weak died of hunger and exposure and the strong help to build the industrial infrastructure of the state.
Food served in the camps included watery buckwheat gruel, spoiled cabbage, potatoes, black bread and weak tea. Sometimes the gruels and meals were fortified with pieces of pig fat, herring heads or fish and animal lungs. One prisoner told Newsweek, “You felt hungry all the time. The average daily intake was around 80 grams of bread, 20 of fat, 120 of cereal, 75 of fish and 27 of sugar—the equivalent of a sandwich and a bowl of soup. Rations were often cut.
Grass soup was one of the main foods in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Relatives were sometimes allowed to take food to prisoners, but packages were searched for things like tools and razor blades which could be used in suicide attempts and escapes. Tea, coffee and chocolate were confiscated as stimulants which could trigger a rebellion
“MKR and Channel 7 need to act on this now. Using symbols that represent terror, atrocities is totally unacceptable. We call on those involved to be strong and responsible, recognize it was a mistake, its offensive and let’s move on,” Stefan Romaniw Chairman of the AFUO said today.
“Following the national and international commentary on this issue it is not only Ukrainian Lithuanians, or Latvians who are complaining and disgusted. Members of the Russian community have also expressed their disgust and have disassociated themselves from this evil symbol,” Mr. Romaniw said.
“For the record Borsch, varennyky are UKRAINAIN dishes – Just in case the contestants and producers have other ideas. Better to be on the front foot,” Mr. Romaniw said.
Suggested titles –
Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum (Doubleday, 2003) won the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction in 2004. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who described gulag life in his books One Day in the Life of Ivan Desonvitch, Gulag Archipelago and Cancer Ward, spent time at a secret Moscow institute and a camp in Kazakhstan.
Further information contact – Stefan Romaniw 0419 531 255
