In Lenin’s birthplace of Ulyanovsk recently, a squad of United Russia officials barged into a school and broke into the kitchen. Throwing the lids of pots and manhandling the cooks, they proclaimed the food to be not healthy enough, and warned the school to change its catering company immediately.
Hot on the heels of classifying beer as alcohol, that’s the kind of healthy-eating tough love that Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver could only dream of.
It seemed like maybe the leadership had finally wised up to the fact that a healthy population is in its interest. And it did, in a way…
Except, as with many things in Russia, the nutritional zealotry of the Ulyanovsk UR leadership may have been more to do with their own, financial, health than with the health of the school kids in questions.
You see, it turns out that the only other caterer/food supplier in town – aptly named ‘Alternative Co.’ – belongs to none other than the local UR deputy secretary, who would stand to earn over 1million roubles ($30,000) per month from the deal.
The conflict of interest is now being investigated.