It goes back further.
In the late 70s - early 80s I had to ‘escort’ foreign students, find them lodgings, etc.
I put one group of Rumanian students in an apartment and took them to a supermarket.
When they saw the meat displays then went bonkers, got extra grocery carts and started filling them up. I asked them why. They said, “We have to get this meat before it is all gone!” I told them that their freezer was not big enough to hold all of that meat. I then told them not to worry and that the meat display would be full again tomorrow. They were not believing me. I had to take them to the supermarket the next day to show them. ;-)
Back in the 70s a friend of mines grandmother visited from Yugoslavia. We took her to the local market. We walked in and she burst into tears, saying something I didn’t understand.
I asked what the problem was and my friend told me she was saying “it’s all lies...it’s all lies.”
L