Cauliflower revolution ( lt, Kalafiorų revoliucija) is the name of the spontaneous Lithuanian protest started by a dweller of the southwestern

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n town of Vilkaviškis in 2016. She bought the cauliflower at

Maxima supermarket Maxima Grupė UAB is a Lithuanian group of retail chain companies operating in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria. It is the largest Lithuanian capital company and the largest employer in the Baltic states. , Maxima has more tha ...

in Vilkaviskis, paying €3.49 for one head of

cauliflower Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species ''Brassica oleracea'' in the genus ''Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed. Typically, only the head is eaten – the ...

. She posted the photo on Facebook, and soon tens of thousands of Lithuanians shared the post, making it

viral Viral means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). Viral may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spread a marke ...

because of various talks on public earlier on rapidly rising prices and a slow growth of salaries compared after the euro was introduced to Lithuania in 2015. A spontaneous three-day boycott occurred, between May 10 and 12, of all four main supermarket chains in Lithuania that control 80% of food distribution in the country, Maxima, Iki,

Rimi Rimi may refer to: * Rimi, Nepal, a village development committee * Rimi, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Katsina State * Rimi (Norway), a Norwegian grocery store chain * Rimi Baltic, a Baltic retail chain * Rimi, another name for aurochs, ...

, and Norfa.

Opinions

Algirdas Butkevičius Algirdas Butkevičius (born 19 November 1958) is a Lithuanian politician and was Prime Minister of Lithuania, serving between 2012 and 2016. He also served as the Minister of Finance from 2004 to 2005 and the Minister of Transport and Communicati ...

, Lithuania’s prime minister, said that most of the goods are imported from nations in the eurozone, and therefore, prices changes are due to reasons such as market challenges, bad harvest and others. , the chief economist at

Swedbank Swedbank AB () is a Nordic-Baltic banking group based in Stockholm, Sweden, offering retail banking, asset management, financial, and other services. In 2019 Swedbank had 900,000 private and 130,000 corporate clients and a 60% market share of ...

said that the escalation in cauliflower prices was caused by a seasonal hike in global demand.

References

{{Reflist 2016 in Lithuania 2016 protests 21st-century revolutions Nonviolent revolutions Protests in Lithuania Protests in the European Union Riots and civil disorder in Lithuania Student protests in Lithuania