Spain, Pineapples And Dating?

It certainly seems where TikTok goes, the world follows—but employing pineapples to help singles catch dates? Yes, a new trend is gaining traction and is now a full-fledged dating craze in Spain.

How it’s done

Spanish actor/comedian Vivy Lin just recently posted a video about her country’s single women meeting men during a specific hour at the local grocery chain Mercadona.  

And then the trend caught on from, before and around her posting.

Single folks specifically looking for partners in their grocery store place an upside-down pineapple(s) in their shopping carts. They then steer their carts past other potential pineapple partners having put the same juicy fruit upside down in their cart. Potential couples ‘meet’ in the Mercadona wine section between seven and eight pm every day, with their upside-down call of availability.

The only downside has been grocery store clerks complaining about the post-eight pm extra clean-up from socializing.

Another store took to hiding their pineapples to avoid the chaos.

The great fruit

So, why all this love for/from the pineapple?

When initially brought to Europe from Guadeloupe in the 1600’s, it was found that the pineapple could not grow outside its tropical home. Thus, the fruit became a rare import, with only nobles and a country's elite affording to buy it.

It was even called "King Pin" for a time because of how expensive pineapples were.

But as always happens with supply and demand, as steamships came into use, importers bringing pineapples back to the mainland from the Spanish islands became more common, and pineapples more accessible for everyone’s consumption.

But common consumption leading to a specific upside-down pineapple dating craze?

Naughty fruit

According to an Urban Dictionary definition, the employment of an upside pineapple indicated a desire to hook-up can be traced to 2006, and specifically, the swinger community. As the entry states: “A pineapple is placed on a porch or mailbox by swingers to signify that a swinger party is going on. A pineapple is turned upside down when a person is in search of a swinger party. Originally it was turned upside down in the individual’s shopping cart.”

This fruit sassy signaling is considered de rigueur behavior for cruise ship passengers wanting to make their intentions plain. In this instance, pineapple magnets are often affixed to an outside cabin door to let those passing by know that the couple inside is interested in an on-board liaison beyond playing shuffleboard.

It has also readily reported that when men eat pineapple the fruit can make their semen taste sweeter. Although maintaining a healthy diet, full of other fruits, as well as staying hydrated is beneficial to sweeter tasting sperm production as well.

Pineapples vs dating apps

As reported last year, dating apps might already be on the way out, so why couldn’t pineapples be ‘in?’

As seen in the above article, women using dating apps complain that they are often overwhelmed by an abundance of choices that lead to matches they don’t feel compatible with, while men say they rarely see a match come through.

Maybe also a need to get off one’s phone to find love, or simply just a hookup comes from the last few years of the world population being locked up and masked.

Maybe we really do like to get out and look at each other’s pineapples every now and again.