Gen Z’s search for the perfect-cute date has led them to the most banal setting of all: the grocery store.
Singles in Spain are lining up at Mercadona stores, a popular supermarket chain, to pick up a few items in the hope of cooking up an organic romance.
Fed up with the relentless online dating scene, young adults looking for love are increasingly taking their search for love at first sight off apps and onto the streets — just like in the movies.
“That doesn’t happen on apps,” Lidia Izquierdo, 19, told the New York Times last week. The student from Barcelona has recently visited her neighborhood Mercadona three times to increase her chances of meeting her soulmate after seeing the shopping speed dating approach go viral on TikTok.
They are not leaving it all to chance. Perhaps borrowing from swinger culture, the pineapple has become the go-to signal to other singles that you’re there not just for snacks, but also for mingling.
Those willing to make their approach are advised to playfully bump carts with the buyer they’ve got their eye on.
The pineapple needs to be turned upside down, and canning won’t do, as Izquierdo discovered on her second attempt when the fresh fruit sold out due to the dating craze. On her third attempt, a store worker was manning the pineapple stand.
Despite her ill-fated efforts, Izquierdo told the Times she plans to return.
According to Spanish media, the trend was popularized by comedian Vivy Lin who is said to have first observed the “meeting hour at Mercadona” after noticing the throngs of seemingly single men and women filling the aisles every day between 7pm and 8pm: 00.
Soon after videos of dolled-up singles and hopefuls wheeling their shopping carts through crowded stores were populating Spanish social media.
Pineapple is just the first sign of celibacy. US-based Spanish influencer Ana Gildersleeve explained the rules of engagement to her 915,000 followers on TikTok. She noted that those looking for a long-term relationship should get a bag of lentils, “because [they] last forever in your pantry, while those looking for a hookup can get lettuce for a good, short term.
The novel dating method has caused chaos at some Mercadona locations, such as in Bilbao where the police had to be called to quell the romantic buzz, according to a recent BBC report.
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Image Source : nypost.com