If Hungary’s vegetarians have recently seemed depressed and cranky, it’s not just the lack of meat in their diets. According to data from the Central Statistics Office (KSH) nicely packaged up by radio.hu, the prices of seasonable vegetables and fruit were up 33% last month compared to August of last year. In other words, it’s like a buy two, get one for free sale on apples, plums and potatoes, except where you buy three and only get two.
Meanwhile, recent tax changes (i.e. increases) imposed as part of the government’s budget-balancing efforts have some analysts predicting much higher inflation through the end of the year, meaning that by mid-winter some vegetarians may have no choice but to give up and start eating sugar and pork, which only went up by 18% and 13.6%, respectively.
