Dumplings and Russian patriotism at school

In an effort to re-read Russian history in the context of today's war effort, the case of a teacher who used a culinary example has gone viral on Russian social networks. 'Better to prepare pelmeny than to play with assault drones'.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - One of the most important tools of patriotic propaganda in Russia are school lessons, which are now attributed a meaning similar to that of Soviet schools, where teachers were entrusted with the task of "forming the consciences" of future generations .

The commitment was to "maintain a highly scientific and practical, and at the same time theoretical and ideological, level", according to a formulation recently reiterated by the instructions of the Ministry of Education. In particular, this concerns lessons on homeland history, which must not simply convey notions, but create an "educational effect" on students of all levels.

For this reason, a Soviet film from 1968, Let's Resist Until Monday, is very current in Russia, also due to the total lack of foreign films. In it the main character is the historian Ilja Menšikov, who teaches history at school according to textbooks, presenting the heroic figure of "Lieutenant Šmidt", a symbolic character of the great Soviet victories in the Great Patriotic War against the Nazis.

During the questioning the student re-enacts the soldier's exploits by repeating the 15 lines of the book by heart, but the teacher asks more, to see if he has understood "the main talent" of the lieutenant: "that of having compassion for the suffering of others more than their own, because it is from here that revolutionaries and poets are born", assigning to heroism an added value that makes war a salvific act, just like the one that Russia is engaging in Ukraine today for the good of the whole world.

This is exactly the content of a note delivered in recent days by Nina Gorjanova, a history teacher, to a sixth-grade student in the Russian region of Tyumen in Siberia, who had been asked to write an essay on "Aleksandr Nevsky: commander , diplomat, Christian”.

She entered into a series of tasks that continued with requests for comments on the medieval wars of Rus, the greatness of rule of Ivan IV the Terrible and other characteristics of the heroes of Russian history.

The proposed themes had the intention of arousing the passion of patriotism in adolescents, at the age that is easiest to indulge in suggestions and emotions. And as in the Soviet film, the teacher expresses his regret for the slavish answers, evidently compiled by generous parents or based on texts easily accessible on the internet, perhaps through artificial intelligence applications.

So the teacher from Tyumen resorts to a much more concrete and experiential approach: the preparation of pelmeny, the Siberian ravioli which constitute one of the main dishes of Russian cuisine, with an accurate preparation of the dough and a rather elaborate mix of meats, onions and fats, to obtain a truly "strong dish" that adults accompany with generous portions of vodka.

The story is learned by putting the elements together to obtain the real product, the Russian soul that can be enjoyed at the table, even if not necessarily with alcohol, by throwing frozen pelmeny on the windowsill into boiling water.

The Siberian teacher's initiative was criticized on some parents' chats, but received praise from the school management, so much so that they included the culinary experience in the programs of all classes.

As the historian Dmitry Volokhin, pro-rector for scientific research of the “Razumovsky” technical-scientific university (Mgutu), expressed it, “how can we criticize such an approach? The teacher tried to address the students not as ignorant kids, but as adults in need of life practice, better to prepare pelmeny than play with assault drones." Not all educators of "war patriotism" supported the initiative, but for the kids it was a much more attractive moment than paramilitary exercises, substituting ravioli for bombs and culinary art for that of war.