Spaniards panic-buy wine, beer, chocolate

Toilet paper is no longer the problem.Spanish supermarket shelves are stocked.
Instead, Spaniards are panic-buying beer and wine, olives, potato chips and chocolate.
Or at least they are consuming more than usual of these key staples amid the nationwide coronavirus lockdown in place since March 15, according to market data.
Spaniards bought 80 per cent more beer and 60 per cent more wine last week than in the previous seven days, the trade publication Inforetail reports.
Olives were apparently even more popular, with sales up by 94 per cent.
Potato chips, chocolate, ice cream and anchovies are also booming, all seeing increases of between 76 per cent and 87 per cent.
Spaniards, who normally socialise in public populating cafes, bars and outdoor spaces, have now “built their own bar at home,” the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais commented.
Psychologist Olga Castanyer traces her countrymens’ changed buying behaviour to the anxiety caused by the virus and the strict curfew.
“You don’t eat steaks when you have a lot of stress. In such a situation, the body craves sugar and fat,” Castanyer told El Pais.
“I am going to meet my friends on Skype now to have a few beers,” she conceded.
dpa/NAN.