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Icelandic farmers are struggling to keep up after a viral cucumber recipe which spread on TikTok is thought to have overwhelmed the national supply.
The Nordic country is now in a pickle with supermarkets reporting a doubling of demand for the vegetable after a salad devised by famed foodie, Logan Moffitt (aka the cucumber guy) was replicated by influencers.
Iceland’s Horticulturists’ Sales Company (SFG), which represents the nation’s farmers, told BBC News it is not managing to keep up with surging consumer demand, adding it is hoped supply will be back to normal “in a week or so”.
Daniel Sigthorsson, 30, who lives in Reykjavik, told The New York Times there were no cucumbers in his local grocery stores. “I was like, ‘That’s weird,’” he said, laughing. “That’s one of the things we never run out of in Iceland. And then I saw the news.”
On TikTok, Mr Moffitt (@logagm) is widely regarded as the leader of the “Cucumber Community”, sharing numerous recipes for cold, crisp cucumber salads in a jar. With more than 4.8 million followers on the app, averaging 2 to 6 million views on most videos, Logan has made waves with his delectable, easy-to-make cucumber dishes.
“I was about to go to sleep, but I was craving an entire cucumber,” the celebrated chef said in a video posted on 19 July.
Logan’s trademark cooking style consists of using a whole cucumber and slicing it with a mandoline over a Tupperware container. He then adds a variety of flavours and seasonings, most notably soy sauce, chilli flakes, shaved garlic, sesame seeds, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Mr Moffitt finishes by furiously shaking the container, mixing the ingredients, and eating one cucumber slice at a time with a pair of metal chopsticks.
Kristín Linda Sveinsdóttir, director of the SFG, said supermarkets had seen a boost to other ingredients used by the TikToker. “Everything is happening at the same time,” she said adding the social media trend remained one of the main contributing factors.
“This is the first time we have experienced something like this,” Ms Sveinsdóttir said, saying if the trend had taken hold earlier in the year “when the [cucumber] production was in full blast” the stocks would have been unaffected.
Icelandic farmers pride themselves on growing potatoes, rhubarb, turnips, radishes, carrots, broad beans, peas and strawberries, despite the problematic climate on the island. They even harness geothermic energy to grow more tropical fruits and vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses.
But the trend is not only causing danger to stocks: some influencers attempting to slice the vegetable with a mandolin are injuring themselves.
TikToker Jackson Dean didn’t make it past the first step when he accidentally snagged the tip of his finger in the mandoline blade.
“Moments before disaster,” his on-screen caption read as he revealed he rushed to the accident and emergency department shortly after.
