You take a cylindrical plastic container and fill it with thinly sliced ​​cucumbers. Then you add pieces of meat or salmon, lettuce, sauce, onion, grated cheese, close the lid, shake it to mix the ingredients well and… done! You just made something “crazy delicious,” as Logan Moffitt, a Canadian TikTok star with about six million followers, guffaws. The Cucumber Guy, as he is now nicknamed, posts videos of various cucumber-based recipes – and can even reach 30 million views.

Lack of cucumbers due to TikTok

About 4,000 kilometers away from Ottawa, where Moffitt lives, the TikToker’s videos have caused trouble. Until recently, Iceland was known mainly for its spectacular nature, its volcanoes and less for the fact that the approximately 400,000 inhabitants of the country are obsessed with… cucumbers. Iceland produces 6 million cucumbers annually – 15 cucumbers per inhabitant.

But in recent months, Moffitt’s videos, which have also been promoted by various Icelandic influencers, have skyrocketed the demand for cucumbers, with the result that production is no longer sufficient. And now no supermarket has cucumbers in the whole country – that’s why the Icelanders are now going to start importing from Holland.

Fashions come and go

Of course, this is not the first time that a social media influencer has caused a huge hype for a certain food – although until now these fads have not ended up affecting entire countries.

In 2023 a food blogger posted colorful filled croissants from a New York bakery – and even though each croissant cost almost $10, the bakery’s clientele multiplied rapidly: lines formed outside the store every day.

In January 2024, Swiss influencer Steve Merson announced via TikTok that he would be handing out free donuts at a snack bar in Zurich. The destruction that followed was so great that after two hours the police intervened to break up the gathering.

Food bloggers have become increasingly popular in recent years. Among them are many TikTokers who upload their own, sometimes somewhat… eccentric dishes – such as those of German influencer Paul Cooks, who likes to use raw meat often. Thus, food bloggers gradually “build” a loyal fan base, which tries and promotes their recipes.

More and more unusual recipes

All food hypes have one thing in common: they appear relatively suddenly and disappear just as quickly. Perhaps that is why the various Icelandic associations affected by the overconsumption of cucumbers have so far reacted rather coolly. A representative of the Icelandic Farmers’ Union assured that the supply of cucumbers in the country will be restored within a week at the latest.

Cucumber Guy’s success has allowed him to become increasingly… experimental. In one of his latest videos with a cucumber salad recipe, Moffitt uses strawberry jam, peanut butter and honey, among other things. At the very least, it is unlikely that this recipe will be so wildly successful that Iceland will end up with no honey at all.

Edited by: Giorgos Passas