Why Spanish singletons are swapping dating apps for upside-down pineapples

Young people use fruit as secret symbol in supermarkets in new craze sweeping nation

Spanish singletons are swapping dating apps for “flirting time” in supermarkets, with upside-down pineapples being used as a sign that shoppers are ready to get fruity.
As part of the new trend, Gen Z members flock to branches of popular chain Mercadona between 7pm and 8pm hoping to find a romantic spark among the shelves.
Inspired by an online dating game, single young people have been told to pick up a pineapple from the fruit aisle, hold it upside down and then go to the wine section.
If an enamoured shopper sees someone they like with an upside-down pineapple, they simply bump their trolley into them to “match” – replacing the Tinder method of “swiping right” on a person’s picture.
Other products are also functioning as forms of “real-life” emojis at Mercadona, which has now been nicknamed “Tinder-dona” on TikTok. Sweets and chocolate supposedly signal an openness to a short-term liaison, while vegetables indicate a desire for a more serious, longer-term relationship.
Hundreds of Spaniards have reportedly participated in the craze after Vivy Lin, a television personality, uncovered the dating game in a video she shared on TikTok.
In the clip, Ms Lin is seen shopping when she is asked by a friend what the “best time to flirt in Mercadona is”.
She investigates online and discovers that “flirting time” is a real thing – before realising she is in the chain at 7.05pm, within the crucial window for romance.
The craze was later fuelled by a contestant on the reality show First Dates, who confessed she used to head to the supermarket to look for love.
Since then, many young Spaniards have got involved, with Mercadona being the subject of a string of humorous posts online – including pictures of packed wine sections.
Social media users have also posted images displaying upside-down pineapples in their trolleys in some of the chain’s roughly 1,600 stores.
The shop-dating craze has since spread to El Corte Ingles, a more upmarket Spanish department store and supermarket. Going to the perfume counter there between 2pm to 3pm is meant to be the best time and place to meet others on the hunt for romance.
It is not the first time that pineapples has been imbued with a raunchy double meaning.  The exotic fruit, which is said to include the testosterone-boosting enzyme bromelain, has been used in the US as a coded message that a person is a swinger or looking for a swingers’ party.
In another sign of Gen Z members increasingly preferring real-life dating, Tinder, the world’s largest dating app, recently launched several running clubs across London as a way of helping singletons to meet new partners in person.