In a pickle: Why TikTok is being blamed for a cucumber shortage in Iceland

Aug. 24, 2024, 10:56 a.m.

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Iceland is facing a cucumber crisis, and TikTok is at the center of it.

A playful online trend started by a popular influencer has unexpectedly led to a widespread cucumber shortage across the country, leaving grocery stores depleted and customers searching frantically.

Kronan, a major grocery chain in Iceland, disclosed to the BBC that cucumber sales rose so dramatically that they were unprepared, prompting an ‘emergency shipment’ of cucumbers from the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, Hagkaup, another leading supermarket, reported a more than doubling in cucumber purchases, as customers rush to secure the scarce vegetable.

Advertisement What sparked this unexpected culinary craze? Let's delve into the story behind Iceland's vegetable revolution.

The ‘cucumber boy’ effect

It all began with Canada-based TikToker Logan Moffitt, known as “cucumber guy,” who started sharing his irresistibly tempting cucumber salad recipes on TikTok. With over 5.5 million followers, Moffitt has been posting daily cucumber recipes since July.

“Sometimes, all you need is a whole cucumber,” Moffitt proclaims at the beginning of his videos, before slicing cucumbers using a vegetable slicer.

He then blends the grated cucumbers with a variety of flavor-enhancing ingredients, which can include sesame seeds, soy sauce, sour cream, chili oil, cheese, tomatoes, onions, paprika, salmon, garlic, and rice vinegar, all mixed together in a plastic container.

Thanks to Moffitt's videos, Icelanders are now enthusiastically slicing, pickling, and consuming cucumbers in unprecedented numbers. The #Cucumber hashtag has garnered over four million posts (mostly featuring salad recipes) on Instagram alone, with approximately 150,000 videos shared on Medium.

It’s all sold out!

The recipe has been such a hit that farmers in the country have been unable to keep up with spiralling demand, reported BBC citing Iceland’s farmers association - the Horticulturists’ Sales Company (SFG).

Daniel Sigthorsson, 30, from Reykjavik, was eager to try a cucumber salad but was surprised to find no cucumbers available at his local grocery store. “I was like, ‘That’s weird,’" he told The New York Times (NYT). “That’s one of the things we never run out of in Iceland. And then I saw the news.”

Advertisement Kronan’s online store reported that apart from cucumbers, there is a staggering 200 per cent increase in searches for ingredients commonly used in the viral recipes, such as sesame oil, rice vinegar, and fish sauce. Icelandic media also noted that sesame oil is now sold out in some stores due to the doubled demand.

“A few people can have a lot of influence,” Haflidi Halldorsson, who works in marketing for the country’s sheep farmers told NYT.

The recipe has been so popular that farmers in Iceland have been struggling to meet the surging demand for cucumbers. File Image/AFP Although Iceland takes pride in its self-sustaining agriculture, managing food supply shortages is particularly difficult given that much of its staple produce is cultivated in geothermal-powered greenhouses.

In situations of shortages, the island, isolated in the far Northern Hemisphere, has to import to bridge the gap, which can be significantly more expensive compared to other European countries.

Kristin Linda Sveinsdottir, the marketing director of SFG, which represents vegetable farmers in Iceland, told the NYT that the timing of the cucumber frenzy is particularly inconvenient.

Why?

Hagkaup told the BBC that the cucumber shortage in Iceland isn’t solely due to the viral TikTok recipe. It’s actually common to experience shortages of Icelandic cucumbers around this time of year.

Kristín Linda Sveinsdóttir from the SFG also expressed doubt, highlighting that several factors are at play. She explained that some cucumber farmers are in the process of replacing their plants at this time of year, meaning production is temporarily reduced.

Iceland, with a population of 393,600, typically sees its farmers produce around six million cucumbers annually, Ms Sveinsdóttir told the British publication.

Adding to the pressure, schools are returning from their summer breaks, resulting in large orders for their kitchens, which further strains the supply.

“Everything is happening concurrently,” said Sveinsdóttir, acknowledging that the social media trend remains one of the primary contributing factors.

With input from agencies