the different symbols associated with poutine was first studied in Maudite Poutine! by Charles-Alexandre Théorêt. Théorêt revisited many of these stigmas in an interview given at Tout le monde en parle on 11 November 2007. As poutine gained popularity outside Quebec provincial borders in the mid-2000s, the dish gradually stopped being mocked and was eventually introduced into the popular discourse as a symbol of Canadian identity. Today, the dish is often presented as being of Canadian cuisine, even as Canada's national dish. Nicolas Fabien-Ouellet suggested in the peer-reviewed journal CuiZine that this "Canadization" of poutine constitutes cultural appropriation. This appropriation is not linked to its preparation or consumption outside Quebec, but strictly to its presentation as a Canadian dish instead of a Québécois dish. Fabien-Ouellet explains: In politics In a Talking to Americans segment on the Canadian mock television news show This Hour Has 22 Minutes, during the 2000 US election, comedian Rick Mercer posed as a reporter and asked US politicians what they thought of "Prime Minister Jean Poutine" and his endorsement of George W. Bush for president. (The Prime Minister of Canada at the time was Jean Chrétien.) None of the interviewees noticed the insertion of "Poutine" and Bush pledged to "work closely" with Mr. Poutine. A few years later, when Bush made his first official visit to Canada as president, he joked in a speech, "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him [...] I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine." The remark was met with laughter and applause. In French, Russian president Vladimir Putin's surname is spelled "Poutine", with the two having identical pronunciation. The similarity has been a source of confusion; in commenting on the Talking to Americans prank on Bush, Washington Post columnist Al Kamen mistakenly believed that Mercer's fictional Jean Poutine was a reference to Putin. In 2017, Russian-themed poutinerie Vladimir Poutine opened in Montreal, with dishes named for political figures from Rasputin to Donald Trump. In the week following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, frequent insults and threats were received by the three Maison de la Poutine restaurants in Paris, some stating a belief that they worked for the Russian state. Another poutinerie in Lyon changed the name of its 20-year signature dish, Vladimir poutine, stating that it "was no longer funny". In Quebec, Le Roy Jucep announced that