“Picanha” becomes Brazil’s right-wing weapon against Lula’s re-election bid

A plate of picanha has become a potent symbol in Brazil’s election campaign. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva once promised that the prized cut would return to the tables of ordinary people, but its rising price has handed the opposition a simple political message.

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Since Lula didn’t bring picanha, I brought it here.

Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula’s main rival in October’s election and the son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, has made the promise a regular target at campaign events. “Since Lula didn’t bring picanha, I brought it here,” the 45-year-old senator told reporters before presenting them with a large plate of the grilled beef.

Picanha, cut from the top of the rump, is relatively expensive in Brazil, where weekend barbecues are popular among families and friends. Its price generally ranges from 80 to 110 reais per kilogram, or $15 to $21, according to an AFP survey. The cut also carries symbolic weight. “The feeling of eating picanha is the feeling of eating like a rich person,” said Mirne Franco, who owns a butcher shop outside Brasília.

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The feeling of eating picanha is the feeling of eating like a rich person.

Lula, 80, won broad support from lower-income voters during his campaign for a third, nonconsecutive term and promised that ordinary people would eat picanha again. But the price rose by almost 10% through August 2026, according to the statistics authority. Lucas da Silva, a 23-year-old restaurant grill worker in a working-class Brasília neighborhood, told AFP that he had voted for Lula but would not do so again because he had seen no change.

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I voted for Lula but I won’t do it again because I don’t see anything changing.

The right has amplified the issue. In a video by Bolsonaro-aligned lawmaker Nikolas Ferreira, a shopper runs out of money at the checkout and leaves behind a branded picanha. The video has received nearly 10 million views. Lula responded that food inflation had averaged 4% during his first three years in office, compared with more than 11% during Bolsonaro’s final three years, which were partly affected by the pandemic. “It would be important for these rivals, instead of going to the supermarket to put on a show, to look at the data so they could see that things have improved a lot in this country,” Lula said. The article ends as an analyst, Robson Carvalho, begins to discuss the wider economic picture.

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It would be important for these rivals, instead of going to the supermarket to put on a show, to look at the data so they could see that things have improved a lot in this country.