Can’t decide between sweet or savory?
You don’t have to.
Influencers are topping their traditional vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of olive oil in the latest food trend that is sweeping TikTok.
While the flavor profile seems peculiar, the Dua Lipa-approved dessert has surprised those with a sweet tooth, who admittedly assumed the treat would be “trash” but are now calling the concoction an “elite combination.”
“This has been my favorite late-night snack lately,” influencer Nara Smith said in a TikTok video scoring 7.9 million views.
First, she doles out two scoops — sometimes four — of creamy, vanilla ice cream before adding a generous drizzle of “good” olive oil and a pinch of flaky sea salt.
“It’s so good,” she gushed. “It’s so addicting.”
Actress and content creator Claudia Sulewski, the girlfriend of musician Finneas O’Connell, also touted the decadent dessert online this month — but some declared it a luxury snack.
“This is a rich person dessert,” snarked one viewer.
“Hear me out, what if you used hot fudge and whipped cream?” another quipped.
“If I have a sweet tooth and have ice cream in the freezer I will simply eat the ice cream,” argued someone else.
Aghast users were shocked to learn that the ice cream dish is an Italian staple, otherwise known as gelato con olio e sale.
“Dessert can become very unilateral and ice cream can fall into that trap,” Andrew Berinin, the CEO and co-founder of the olive oil brand Graza, told PureWow, calling it an “umami bomb.”
“The best way to spice things up is to insert unexpected flavors. With good extra virgin olive oil, you add super punchy and grassy notes, which creates a welcome complexity.”
Stateside, the dessert has been around much longer than TikTok. In the early 2010s, Big Gay Ice Cream offered customers olive oil and sea salt as a topping for their soft serve — along with elderflower syrup and wasabi pea dust — and inspired a chocolate-dipped sea salt flavor from Filipino frozen dessert company Sebastian’s Ice Cream.
In New York City, hungry patrons can find gelato con olio at L’Industrie Pizzeria in Williamsburg or at a walk-up window in Soho belonging to Softside, which offers vanilla soft serve drenched in olive oil and honey.
Last spring, Starbucks brought a taste of Italy to cafes around the country with the introduction of the Oleato — olive oil-infused coffee — which perplexed customers and upset their stomachs.