Moscow cooks tell about “Belarusian” Parmesan from Italy

Italian manufacturers circumvent Putin’s sanctions with the help of Belarus.

After the introduction of the food staff sanctions against European countries Russian restaurants had to of how to get the products that are not produced in Russia. In particular, the dishes got strongly affected, which needed Parmesan to cook, or, as it is called in Italy, Parmigiano-Reggiano. However, the producers of the Italian cheese have, apparently, found a “channel”, Reuters reports.

The news agency speaks ironically: in the times of the Soviet Union the traders in Belarus’ black-markets used to counterfeited the tag on local products, so they looked like imported. Now, though, the situation has changed to quite the opposite, NEWSru.com reports.

Two cooks from Moscow restaurants told that they get shipped true Parmigiano-Reggiano, which is only produced in several provinces in northern Italy. According to them, the product even came in the original Italian package, but with a sticker that read “made in Belarus”.

It is curious that Parmesan turns into some contraband product. For example, the president of the Restaurateur Federation Igor Bukharov said that he had seen announcements outside restaurants, which had simply had a writing “Parmesan” on them and a phone number. It should be pointed out that the prices have gone up too. One cook said that the Parmesan cheese, shipped from Belarus, has grown in price by almost 20%.

Rostislav Ordovskiy-Tanaevskiy Blanco, who owns the Rosinter company, which manages the chain restaurants Sushi Planet and Il Patio, said that he had huge problems with product shipments. “The logistics has been completely destroyed, - he shared. – We will wait for at least three months to understand how to operate under the new conditions”.