Not looking forward to Christmas.

Shunned with disgust in most West European countries, the carp is a must in the Christmas menu of Poles.

About 20,000 tons of this fish are eaten during the Yuletide season which is also the time which brings untold suffering to the humble carp. Poles prefer to buy it live, a practice which exposes the fish to unnecessary suffering, say the Polish greens.

The Gaja Club NGO, backed by a popular Polish chef Robert Maklowicz, has begun a campaign aimed at encouraging shoppers to buy carp 'on ice'. The Club president Jacek Bozek says the point is not to fight against the Christmas carp eating tradition but against the conditions in which the live fish are transported and marketed.

Robert Maklowicz admits that freshness is crucial for such a culinary product as the carp but this does not mean that the fish have to be kept cramped in small containers in shops and than to suffocate in plastic bags before they are brought home by the buyer.

Pressed by animal rights campaigners Poland amended its animal protection law, which now states that the fish must be treated just like other vertebrates. (kk/jb)