Polish voters were given food for thought on Friday, when politicians from the two main parties traded accusations that the other side planned to push meat-loving citizens into eating worms ahead of elections in November.
Lawmakers from the ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS) party said that opposition party Civic Platform (PO) is planning to limit the consumption of meat and replace it with insects, an accusation PO rejects.
“For the upcoming elections, PO politicians should write on each poster: ‘Instead of chicken eat a worm,’ because this is their real election program,” Polish lawmaker Bartosz Kownacki of PiS told reporters.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) Info accompanied Kownacki’s news conference with a ticker reading: “The opposition’s proposals for Poles: worms instead of meat.”
TVP Info has been regularly criticized by the opposition as being a mouthpiece for government propaganda.
The subject of eating worms has featured heavily on TVP Info since the C40 Cities initiative, which recommends measures, such as eating less meat and relying less on gasoline-powered vehicles, to combat climate change, said Warsaw would feature in a project to demonstrate “the role of cities in responding to the climate, energy and cost of living crises.”
The mayor of Warsaw is leading opposition politician Rafal Trzaskowski.
However, PO politicians and city officials say this does not mean proposals to force people to lower meat consumption and eat worms are under consideration.
PO Chairman Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, hit back at the PiS allegations, labelling the government a “promoter of worm soup.”
Tusk was referring to media reports that the Polish National Center for Research and Development had provided 6.5 million zlotys (US$1.47 million) in funding to a project called “SmartFood,” which included the rearing of edible insects.
“It is a bit humiliating for everyone that the media and politicians have been wondering for several days whether Trzaskowski really wants to force Poles to eat worms, not meat,” Tusk told reporters.
The Polish Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy has said that “SmartFood” is not a government program and is mainly funded by Norway, the Polish Press Agency reported.
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