The French restaurant claims to have received insults and threats from customers who thought its Quebec specialty, poutine, was named after Putin.

Left: short ribbed poutine, right: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The French restaurant La Maison de la Poutine tried to clarify that its name has nothing to do with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  • A French restaurant says it has been threatened due to confusion over a dish of the same name.

  • Putin, french fries doused in cheese curd and sauce, has nothing to do with Putin, the report said.

  • Companies around the world have been forced to cut ties with Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.

A restaurant in France is trying to clear its name after dealing with confusion over Putin, his signature dish – french fries with cottage cheese and gravy – and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the leader who announced an invasion of Ukraine just over a week ago.

La Maison de la Poutine, or Putin’s House, tweeted on Friday that it had received “calling insults and even threats” about the dish of the same name.

“We therefore feel it necessary to remind you that La Maison de la Poutine has nothing to do with the Russian regime and its leader,” the tweet reads. It featured the restaurant’s logo, a heart emoji, and the Ukrainian flag.

“Our dish was born in Quebec in the 1950s. There are many stories about its origin. But one thing is certain: poutine was created by passionate chefs who care about bringing joy and comfort to their customers,” the restaurant, which operates two locations in Paris and one in Toulouse, wrote.

The restaurant further offered its support to “the Ukrainian people who courageously fight for their freedom against the tyrannical Russian regime.”

Businesses and entire industries are cutting ties with the Russian economy and its elite as Western governments impose tough sanctions on Moscow in response to Putin’s attack on Ukraine.

Last week, Quebec-based restaurant Le Roy Jucep joined the fray by saying it was removing the word “Putin” from its brand in protest of the invasion, Canadian daily Ottawa Citizen reported.

The diner, which claims to have invented poutine, said in a now-deleted Facebook post that the dish will temporarily be called “cheese fries dip.”

The story goes on

This isn’t the first time a potato dish has been renamed due to political conflict: in 2003, the French government’s opposition to the Iraq War led some restaurants, including three congressional cafeterias, to temporarily call french fries “freedom fries.”

In a previous version of this article, it was reported that the flag in the tweet was the flag of Russia, when in fact it is the Ukrainian flag. We apologize for the mistake.

Read the original article on Business Insider