According to the newspaper La Dépêche, the lunch menu between French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping was altered, removing the "Russian pie" from the list due to its name. The organizers had planned to serve a dessert called "Russian pie," which has been favored by French leaders, but it was replaced with berry dessert because of its name. The "Russian pie" is made of almond dough and dusted with powdered sugar that resembles snow.
It is noted that the two presidents visited the Pyrenees mountains, where they were served lunch at the Etape du Berger restaurant, managed by a friend of the French president. The entire menu consisted of regional dishes, one of which is a pie known as "the Russian" in France. However, it was swapped for the berry pie because of its name.
According to the newspaper, the "Russian pie" appeared in the Pyrenees in the 1920s and is made from a biscuit-like dough with almonds covered in powdered sugar. Its name refers to the fact that the almonds used in the original recipe are supposed to be from the quarrm. The other reason is the similarity of the pie's surface to snow-covered landscapes that evoke the nature of Russia.
As noted by the newspaper Le Figaro, the "Russian pie" was removed from the meal menu considering the currently sensitive geopolitical context, as the issue of the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv is one of the most pressing matters and central to Macron and Xi. The "Russian pie" had been loved by former French presidents François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, and Nicolas Sarkozy, and later Macron also became fond of it. The dessert is often served at the Élysée Palace for foreign delegations.
