TikTok Trend Blamed for Cucumber Shortage in Iceland
The online world has seen many viral cooking trends over the past few years. At one point, everyone seemed to be leaving their porridge in the fridge overnight; some time later, people couldn't stop talking about a pasta sauce made from tomatoes and baked feta cheese.
A recent TikTok trend involves mixing sliced cucumbers with sesame oil, garlic, rice vinegar and chili oil.
People all over the world have been making it — and it's partly responsible for a cucumber shortage in Iceland.
Iceland's Horticulturists' Sales Company (SFG) — which represents farmers in the country — told the BBC that farmers can't keep up with the high demand for cucumbers.
The trend was started by a Canadian TikToker named Logan Moffitt — who's been called the "cucumber guy" because he has posted many cucumber recipes on his channel since July.
"Sometimes, you just need to eat a whole cucumber," he often says at the start of his videos.
But while some have said he's responsible for the cucumber shortage, the SFG's Kristín Linda Sveinsdóttir told The New York Times that this trend came at a bad time.
In Iceland, she explained, farmers grow cucumbers in cycles, and this trend went viral at a time when there is a low yield of the vegetable.
And as a small island quite far from other countries, it's not easy or cheap to import things.
Schools are also returning from the holidays at this time of the year, so the demand for certain foods is higher than usual.
"Everything is happening at the same time," Sveinsdóttir told the BBC, adding that if this trend had gone viral at the start of the summer, the shortage wouldn't have been as noticeable.
