Salva Mubarak Senior Features Writer

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream, but Dua Lipa is different. The ‘Levitating’ hitmaker was recently interviewed by BBC Radio 1 where she expressed her thoughts on ice cream.

“I don’t think chocolate ice cream is that good,” she said, “But you know what I love? So I get vanilla ice cream, and I put olive oil on it, and sea salt. So many people that I’ve shown it to, I’ve brought to the dark side.”

The simple statement was enough to send the Internet into a frenzy.

“Is nothing sacred anymore?” asked one distraught comment below the video while others called it variations of a “criminal offence”.

But it also intrigued some enough to try out the dubious combination for themselves. Many on TikTok and Instagram reels decided to give Dua Lipa’s ice cream hack a go. They were pleasantly surprised to find it “ridiculously good” and declared it an “elite combination”.

Many also took it as an invitation to come forward with their own preferred ice cream toppings, unafraid now that a global popstar has identified herself to be like them.

Should you be drizzling olive oil and salt on your ice cream?

The mania around the sweet and savoury combination is not anything new. We’ve seen the same level of heated debate around similar combinations, most famously pineapples on pizza.

While Dua Lipa might have shared her hack recently, the combination has been around for a long time. It’s reminiscent of an Italian dessert called gelato con olio e sale. People on ‘Team Olive Oil + Ice Cream 4eva’ claim that drizzling olive oil on plain vanilla ice cream and throwing in a pinch of salt, adds complex layers of flavour to the simple dessert and elevates it effortlessly.

Like all food trends and viral combinations, the results are subjective to taste. While many may argue that ice cream is perfect as it is and doesn’t need anything to make it more delicious, there’s no harm in trying Dua Lipa’s way to make ice cream more interesting, if you have the ingredients in your pantry. What do you think?!