TikTok's viral cucumber salad trend has reportedly caused food shortages across Iceland.
Logan, known by the nickname “logagm,” rose to fame as the “Cucumber Guy” in early August, thanks in large part to his various cucumber salad recipes.
The foodie takes a whole cucumber, cuts it into a bowl and adds various ingredients. Then the whole app runs to the supermarket to make their own cucumber.
TikTokers in Iceland, however, have found themselves in a bind after flooding their grocery stores to get their hands on the crunchy vegetable. One man, Daniel Sigthorsson, told the New York Times he simply couldn't find any.
“I just thought, 'This is weird,'” he said. “It's one of the things we never run out of in Iceland. And then I saw the news.”
He is not the only one who has difficulty finding cucumbers. Icelandic News spoke to Kronan, one of the country’s largest grocery chains. In a The grocer confirmed in its statement that the number of people searching for ingredients for the trendy recipe had increased by 200%.
They have also noticed an increase in purchases of sesame oil, rice vinegar and fish sauce – the former is sold out in some stores – as these are popular additions to several viral recipes.
BBC News spoke to Kristín Linda Sveinsdóttir, the marketing director of the Icelandic Horticulturists' Sales Company, who shared that they hope to get supplies back to normal as soon as possible. They also shared that if the trend started in early 2024, the supply problem in the country would not be as bad.
Grocery stores are not the only those affected by the viral cucumber trend. On August 20, TikToker bechardgrave warned about the dangers of cucumber slicing after she cut her hand on a mandolin and ended up in the hospital.
