Olympics yogurt controversy: World is catching on to what Indians have long known about curds

Of all the things that the Russian government has been pilloried for in the run-up to the winter Olympic Games at Sochi, from being ill-prepared for the mega event to being anti-LGBT rights, surely the least expected are the recent charges of dairy discrimination levelled by the US team. It is difficult to swallow the allegation that the Russian authorities’ refusal to allow import of tubs of a particular brand of yoghurt without veterinary and phytosanitary inspection is part of an insidious plan to not only spoil the US sportspeople’s breakfasts but curdle their medal prospects too. That the brand is the sponsor of the US team probably has more to do with this indispensable new component of the traditional American breakfast than any undetected national fixation for a dairy staple.

While this Olympian battle of competing cultures is appropriately being waged for the “Greek-style” variant of yoghurt, Indians could claim part-credit for the general elevation of its profile. After all, over the past two decades, Indian techies powering the Silicon Valley success brought the brain-enhancing potential of thayir-sadam (curd-rice) into focus. By deeming that its Olympics team cannot do without its daily curd either, the US has endorsed yoghurt as yet a true superfood.