By C. J. De Mel, Jadetimes News
An unusual TikTok movement has resulted in a surprising surge of demand for cucumbers, and left supplies missing in action at Icelandic grocers. It all started when Icelanders on social media posted about a salad recipe with grated cucumbers, sesame oil, garlic, rice vinegar, and chili oil. This recipe revealed to be so popular that Icelandic farmers were unable to supply the skyrocketing demand, reported the Horticulturators' Sales Company, SFG.
Although one supermarket chain, Hagkaup, said that this trend could not be directly associated with the increased demand, it did agree that its sales of the item had more than doubled. Marketing director of SFG, Kristín Linda Sveinsdóttir, said that as a matter of fact, Icelandic farmers are currently unable to satisfy consumer demand but said supply would balance out in about a week.
According to reports by sources, the trend was started in Canada, where user Logan Moffitt, under the pseudonym "the cucumber guy," has been sharing crazy cucumber recipes. Moffitt, who has over 5.5m followers, has shared recipes with cucumber literally daily since July. The recipe the whole madness in Iceland is based on includes sesame oil and rice vinegar; sometimes cream cheese, avocado, and smoked salmon are added to it.
Italian experts, despite popular online belief, however, are cautious not to attribute the scarcity to the TikTok trend. Hagkaup said that it is not so unusual that the country faces cucumber shortages at this time of the year. The veggie-loving nation is changing its cucumber plants these days, which are still catching up and are yet to produce as much as they normally would. Additionally, schools have resumed after summer vacations, putting further strain on the supply. In as much as Sveinsdóttir did concur that the social media trend was a significant contributor, she was keen to stress that her situation was more a case of several circumstances having passed at the same time.
"The businesswoman admitted this was a first for any of them, and added that had the TikTok trend swept like wildfire across the nation in early summer – when cucumber production was gathering steam – the shortage might have gone unnoticed. Home to about 393,600 people, the small island nation of Iceland produces a cool and impressive six million cucumbers a year. And the country is a proud exponent of fresh produce that can also be grown under hard frost conditions.".
