If New York City hot dog stands could deliver, business would be booming right now. Sales of fermented cabbages like sauerkraut and kimchi have spiked as consumers sought to bolster their immune systems against the deadly virus. Sauerkraut sales surged 960 percent year-over-year in the week of March 29 while overall grocery sales rose just …
If New York City hot dog stands could deliver, business would be booming right now.
Sales of fermented cabbages like sauerkraut and kimchi have spiked as consumers sought to bolster their immune systems against the deadly virus.
Sauerkraut sales surged 960 percent year-over-year in the week of March 29 while overall grocery sales rose just 62.5 percent, according to e-commerce data from software firm Bloomreach.
Kimchi sales, meanwhile, have jumped as much as 952 percent in the week of Feb. 16, the figures show.
Experts say people are turning to the acidic dishes to protect themselves against the still-mysterious COVID-19 bug — even though there’s no evidence they will prevent or cure the disease.
“When there’s a perception that there’s very little else you can do, you want to do something,” said Dr. Robert Brown, clinical chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine.
Cabbage has been dubbed a “superfood” because it’s packed with antioxidants and vitamin C. And the fermentation creates probiotics that support the “gut microbiome,” which plays a key role in the body’s immune response, according to experts.
The sales boom also comes amid reports of low coronavirus death rates in Germany and South Korea, where sauerkraut and kimchi are traditional staples.
Germany’s death rate recently stood at 3 percent and South Korea’s at 2.1 percent. That’s compared to a death rate of more than 6 percent worldwide — and north of 10 percent in places like Italy and Spain.
That’s prompted speculation on Twitter that diet may be playing a role.
“Germany is doing better because they eat Sauerkraut!!!,” a Twitter user wrote on March 23. “Possibly the main reason why S. Korea has very low #coronavirus deathrate. Virtually every family eats lots of kimchi,” read an April 5 tweet.
Back in January, when COVID-19 first reared its ugly head, South Korea’s national health ministry had to issue a press release stressing that the dish offered no protection against the coronavirus.
But that hasn’t stopped Americans from testing it out as shoppers struggle to find hand sanitizer and disinfectants in stores.
“Whether the psychology behind the decision to buy natural products stems from existing health perceptions around these products or from their country of origin, overall it’s clear consumers are looking for alternatives,” explained Bloomreach chief strategy officer Brian Walker.
In addition to fermented cabbage, sales of other foods with perceived health benefits have exploded since mid-February, including year-over-year increases as large as 470 percent for ginger and 252 percent for turmeric, Bloomreach’s figures show.
Raw ginger — an antioxidant-packed root known to alleviate nausea and muscle pain — has been particularly in high demand, according to Nelson Eusebio of the National Supermarket Association, a trade group for independent supermarket owners.
Eusebio sees people buying more “old-fashioned, homemade stuff,” and says the specific elixir ingredients they purchase depend on factors like traditions in their country of origin.
“There’s a lot of tea drinking going on,” Eusebio told The Post. “There are a lot of roots being bought for tea, ginger roots, stuff like that.”
But consumers are also stocking up on ginger ale, which can be packed with sugar and often contains little actual ginger. The maker of Canada Dry ginger ale has even been sued because its version of the drink allegedly contained just a tiny amount of ginger flavor extract.
Online ginger ale sales nonetheless boomed 289 percent year-over-year in the week of March 29 following sizable increases in preceding weeks, according to Bloomreach.
It’s also been flying off the shelves in brick-and-mortar stores.
Franke Marte, president of the Bodega Association of New York, estimated that sales of various ginger ale products were up about 20 percent since the coronavirus hit the Big Apple.
“The ginger ale is selling more,” Marte told The Post.
But even the healthy foods are no substitute for social distancing and proper hand-washing, New York-Presbyterian’s Dr. Brown said.
There are also better ways of boosting your immune system than eating homeopathic foods, like making sure you get enough sleep, Brown said.
The biggest risk, said Brown, is that consumers of these foods develop a “false sense of confidence that you’re wearing some kind of cloak of kimchi protection” — which doesn’t exist.
“The best way to prevent coronavirus infection is don’t get exposed,” Brown told The Post. “You may get exposed going out to the natural food store to buy the products that are supposed to help you prevent it.”
