A French restaurant says it received insults and threats from customers who thought its signature Quebecois dish poutine was named after Putin

A restaurant in France is trying to clear its name after it was confused about its signature dish, poutine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced an invasion into Ukraine just over a week ago.

The House of Poutine received calls of insult and threats over its name.

It seems necessary for us to recall that La Maison de la Poutine is unrelated to the Russian regime and its leader. There was a restaurant logo, a heart symbol, and a flag.

—La Maison de la Poutine (@MaisonPoutine) March 3, 2022

The dish was born in Quebec in the 1950s. There are many stories about its origin. The restaurant which runs two locations in Paris and one in Toulouse wrote that the food was created by passionate cooks who care about bringing joy and comfort to their customers.

The restaurant offered its support to the Ukrainian people who are fighting for their freedom against the Russian regime.

Western governments have imposed heavy sanctions on Moscow in response to Putin's attack on Ukraine.

Le Roy Jucep, a restaurant in Quebec, decided to remove the wordpoutine from its branding in protest of the invasion.

The diner, which claims to have invented the dish, said in a now-removed Facebook post that the dish would temporarily be calledfries cheese gravy.

In 2003 French government resistance to the Iraq war led some restaurants to refer to French fries as "freedom fries".