Such a party eats

An amazing mystery of modern Russia: traditions are formed and preserved not at all there and not those who are allocated for the preservation of traditions. Big budget money is allocated

Andrei Konchalovsky and Nikita Mikhalkov at the anniversary concert in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the writer S. Mikhalkov, Moscow, on March 14, 2013 Sorry, but I am again about the Mikhalkovs: I understand that jokes about billion rubles and snacks “eating houses” have already been hidden in the teeth, but in this story everything is so beautiful-the last name, and the name of the network, which even with a great desire is not possible Its from the head, as in the eastern parable, where it was necessary not to think about the White Monkey. It seems that this particular monkey will meet more than once on our life path: the government, having refused to allocate a billion on the network of Mikhalkovsky fast food, immediately recommended Sberbank to give the brothers a loan under the state guarantee (now everything looks like the story with a billion from the budget was specially invented so that the form and content of the loan would not look so odious, and news resources could put the heading resources "The government refused Mikhalkov"). Actually, the combination of the words “Mikhalkov”, “national”, “import substitution” and “alternative to Western networks” from the very beginning hinted that the project was doomed to good luck (at least at the financing stage), but let people take a word for a word; Let's try not to pay attention to the fact that neither the Mikhalkov brothers, nor even Julia Vysotskaya, who is standing behind the brand “Eat at home!” Never engaged in fast food; Suppose that the real goals of the project coincide with the declared and that things are done exactly that. The national chain of fast food is great, yes, why not help?

Actually, the idea of ​​the Mikhalkovs is not new: this is far from the first attempt to build a large catering network on Russian cuisine dishes (and contrary to McDonald's). These projects have a different fate: there is a “tower” and “potato crumb” - and there is, for example, “Russian bistro”. Projects of the first type work without state money, without an administrative resource and without high -profile speeches about national traditions, everything ends with thousands of outlets throughout the country and the emergence of a real alternative to hamburgers. Projects of the second type are built on budget investments and declarations about how we will now revive our own and defeat someone else's - everything ends with bankruptcy and the Investigative Committee. Coincidence? Don't think.

Well, God be with him, with fast food, maybe this is some kind of special industry; Maybe somewhere in other places there is a correlation between declarations on the support of national traditions (with a request to give money out of the budget)-and real traditions? Here the Victory holiday is approaching, in the last decade several important customs have arisen, no matter how you relate to the St. George ribbon or the stickers “thank you for the victory” on cars - it is obvious that this is a completely formed nation -wide tradition, the manifestation of patriotism in the most affordable form. And what - they made them for the "trillard" according to the state order? They were discussed at a government meeting? Approved a special state program for their distribution? There was nothing like that; Everything started and spread itself. But, on the other hand, Rosmolodezh asks the budget of 2 billion rubles for a program of patriotic education, promising to increase by 8 percent the number of citizens proud of their country - and arguments are so significant that, again, there is no doubt about the success of the enterprise; But can anyone recall at least one at least some mass patriotic undertaking, which appeared thanks to the "Rosmolodezh"-not counting those that "Rosmolodezh" directly paid?

And so for some reason everywhere and always. Some people scream about national traditions in the opera (they later receive a theater from the state, which blurred with the Tangaiser) - and the traditions themselves live and develop in Bolshoi and Mariinka. Budgets for supporting the national auto industry are mastered in some places - and the cars of the Russian assembly that can be driven are assembled in others. The real national treasure of Russia is “Oblomov”, “Unfinished Play” and “Asya Klyachin”-and when their authors begin to fight for our national treasure (for our money), for some reason it comes to fast food. Well, sorry for the invasion of completely intimate spheres, but if the words about historical memory, true faith and the salvation of the soul so often sound from the side of the project - even from this point of view it is better to be just the authors of Oblomov and Asi, than the authors of Oblomov and Asi, who gave a billion state money for their personal catering network, and even on a pure Thursday.

Photo: Stanislav Krasilnikov/ITAR-TASS