In a novel twist to dating, Gen Z singles in Spain are turning supermarket aisles into meeting spots by participating in a unique "dating hour" at Mercadona stores. This initiative allows young people to seek romantic connections away from the digital world during a designated time daily. From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., participants carry specific food items in their carts as symbols of their relationship intents.
Spain's Mercadona supermarkets have become the backdrop for a fresh dating trend driven by Gen Z's desire for organic romantic encounters, New York Post reported.
While casual meet-ups in grocery stores aren't new, the structured approach to using food items as signals of availability and intent is innovative. The main ingredient of this social recipe is placing a pineapple in the shopping cart. However, the twist is that it must be upside-down to signal availability.
The practice gained traction after Vivy Lin, a comedian, spotlighted it through a viral video. This led to widespread adoption and curiosity among single shoppers eager to experiment with this playful dating technique.
Foods carry deeper meanings in this dating game. Aside from pineapples indicating availability, other groceries also communicate different relationship expectations. Lentils symbolize a desire for a long-lasting relationship, anchored by their shelf stability, suggesting "forever." In contrast, a head of lettuce in the cart signals interest in a short-term, casual connection, highlighting temporality akin to the vegetable's short shelf life.
Lidia Izquierdo, a 19-year-old student from Barcelona, found the method appealing. She has frequented her local Mercadona in hopes of connecting with others who seek relationships beyond the superficial exchanges often found on dating apps. Izquierdo appreciates the spontaneity and realness of this method, contrasting it positively against digital dating.
Her sentiment is captured in her statement, "That doesn’t happen on apps," emphasizing the organic interactions fostered by this unique dating scene.
The trend, however, isn’t without its challenges. In Bilbao, the influx of eager singles turned chaotic, prompting one Mercadona location to call for police intervention to manage the crowds. This incident highlights the scale of the trend's impact and the social dynamics it has stirred within communities.
Further propelling the trend across borders, Ana Gildersleeve, a US-based Spanish influencer, has taken to TikTok to explain the nuances of the signaling system. Her follower base of 915,000 has shown keen interest, expanding the trend’s reach and possibly inspiring similar movements in other regions and supermarkets.
Gildersleeve's explanation on TikTok elucidates the meaning behind the food items. "Lentils last forever in your pantry," she explains, connecting the durable legume with long-term partnership desires, while lettuce represents "a good, short-term time," aligning with the nature of both the relationship and the perishable good.
The online interest spurred by influencers and comedic reveals has turned grocery shopping into a social commentary and a real-life social media feed where singles can interact in a multi-sensorial environment. This trend showcases a shift in dating culture among Gen Z, who seek authenticity and tangible connections in contrast to the often criticized superficiality and disposability of digital dating apps.
As this trend continues to evolve, it serves as a fascinating study of how traditional activities like grocery shopping can gain new cultural significance in the digital age. It also reflects the innovative ways in which younger generations are navigating dating, turning mundane activities into opportunities for meaningful connections.
Whether this trend will sustain itself or inspire similar movements globally remains to be seen, but for now, it represents a playful, creative stride toward reclaiming social interactions in the most ordinary places. Spain's Mercadona supermarkets have inadvertently become arenas for romance, networking, and social experimentation, reinventing the concept of "shopping for love."
