+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
Pop Culture

Behold 'watermelon pizza,' TikTok's latest and weirdest food trend

Suddenly pineapple doesn't feel so controversial.

watermelon pizza, watermelon pizza TikTok
Canva

Would you try it?

Just when you think that all flavors of pizza have been created, guess again. A new version has rolled out and it’s taking the internet by storm.

Its name? Watermelon pizza. You read that right. Watermelon + pizza. It’s a thing.

watermelon pizza TikTok Watermelon Sugar GIF by Harry Styles Giphy

You might be picturing watermelon as the topping in this unique dish—much like its fruity predecessor, the pineapple. But no. As the creator of watermelon pizza, Oliver Paterson, reveals in his now viral TikTok, the juicy fruit actually serves as the crust.

There are a few key details that make this recipe work, as Paterson, known on TikTok as @elburritomonster, explained to Fox News .

First, the watermelon has to be grilled on both sides for five minutes prior to toppings, to “remove as much moisture as possible to avoid a soggy mess,” according to Paterson.


It’s also “vital” to substitute the standard tomato-based sauce with barbecue sauce, as “BBQ is already a tried and tested flavor combination with watermelon.” (I for one did not know this to be true, but sweet and tangy is a pretty unbeatable combo.)

@elburritomonster

I can’t actually recommend this enough

♬ Watermelon Sugar - Paul Moonlight

Lastly, Paterson swaps out chorizo for the usual pepperoni. Then, voila. You have a dish that “tastes sweet and smoky, with fatty salty richness,” he told Fox News .

However, get just one of these three things wrong and the results are less than fruitful. This was the case for Domino’s Pizza in Australia when it tried and hilariously failed to recreate Paterson’s recipe in its own TikTok video .

@dominosau

Y’all keep asking us for a low carb option 😏🍕Nah fr when we saw @elburritomonster make a watermelon pizza, we HAD to give it a go.

♬ original sound - Domino’s Australia

Unsurprisingly, watermelon pizza has sparked a heated culinary debate online. Comments were across the board on this one, ranging between “I’m calling 911” to “I mean… add melted cheese to anything and it would be delicious.”

No one seems to agree on the legitimacy of this new flavor combination. Still, watermelon has undoubtedly done the impossible—using it for pizza has put an end to the war on pineapple.

“Suddenly pineapple on pizza isn’t so bad,” one person admitted in the comments.

Another conceded, “Pineapple on pizza is normal compared to this.”

There you have it, folks. Watermelon isn’t just for outdoor picnics and a Harry Styles song. Not anymore.

Paterson seems to know a thing or two about creating quirky snack options. His TikTok is an online buffet of unique food creations—in particular, epic burritos.

You name it, and the guy has somehow turned it into a burrito. I’m not kidding.

Like this Scotch egg burrito:

@elburritomonster

Would you eat a Chorizo Scotch Egg and Chicken Burrito? 😅

♬ Gone up in Flames - Morning Runner

Why choose between a Scotch egg and a burrito, when you can have both?

Or this made-with-leftovers burrito:

@elburritomonster

Best use of leftover KFC 😋

♬ Paper Planes - M.I.A.

Un-clucking-believable.

And here's beef Wellington in burrito form:

@elburritomonster

Have a look at the recipe if you’re in the mood for a ✨ fancy✨ Beef Welly Burrito 😁

♬ original sound - Elburritomonster

The cooking instructions are sung to Billie Eilish, no less.

As for his watermelon pizza, it might become a passing internet trend, as so many things on TikTok are. Or, it might surpass the Hawaiian, who knows? The only thing to know for sure is that life is about all kinds of experimentation.

From Your Site Articles
tiktok
Community

Facebook group brings people together IRL to make meaningful friendships

True

Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

Keep Reading Show less
friendship
Education

3,700-year-old Babylonian stone tablet gets translated, changes history

They were doing trigonometry 1500 years before the Greeks.

via UNSW

Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!

Most historians have credited the Greeks with creating the study of triangles' sides and angles, but this tablet presents indisputable evidence that the Babylonians were using the technique 1,500 years before the Greeks ever were.

Keep Reading Show less
education
Education

In 125 years, millions of people have looked at this painting. No one really saw it until recently.

Van Gogh saw something it took scientists another 100 years to see.

Image from Wikimedia Commons .

Van Gogh’s Starry Night.



Van Gough never got to enjoy his own historic success as an artist ( even though we've been able to imagine what that moment might have looked like). But it turns out that those of us who have appreciated his work have been missing out on some critical details for more than 100 years.

I'm not easily impressed, OK?

I know Van Gogh was a genius. If the point of this were "Van Gogh was a mad genius," I would not be sharing this with you.
Keep Reading Show less
Joy

Woman who lives on a cruise ship shares the hardest part about her perfect life

She's a little afraid to leave her cabin.

via Christine Kesteloo/TikTok and Cagri Gurbuz/Pexels

Christine Kesteloo has one big problem living on a cruise ship.

A lot of folks would love to trade lives with Christine Kesteloo . Her husband is the Chief Engineer on a cruise ship, so she gets to live on the boat pretty much for free as the “wife on board.” For Christine, life is a lot like living on a permanent vacation.

“I live on a cruise ship for half the year with my husband, and it's often as glamorous as it sounds,” she told Insider. “After all, I don't cook, clean, make my bed, do laundry or pay for food.“

Living an all-inclusive lifestyle seems like paradise, but it has some drawbacks. Having access to all-you-can-eat food all day long can really have an effect on one’s waistline. Kesteloo admits that living on a cruise ship takes a lot of self-discipline because the temptation is always right under her nose.

Keep Reading Show less
cruise ships
Health

Women do better when they have a group of strong female friends, study finds

We're stronger together.

Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

Women do better when they have female friends.

Madeleine Albright once said , "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." It turns out that might actually be a hell on Earth, because women just do better when they have other women to rely on, and there's research that backs it up.

A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that women who have a strong circle of friends are more likely to get executive positions with higher pay. "Women who were in the top quartile of centrality and had a female-dominated inner circle of 1-3 women landed leadership positions that were 2.5 times higher in authority and pay than those of their female peers lacking this combination," Brian Uzzi writes in the Harvard Business Review .

Part of the reason why women with strong women backing them up are more successful is because they can turn to their tribe for advice. Women have to face different challenges than men, such as unconscious bias, and being able to turn to other women who have had similar experiences can help you navigate a difficult situation. It's like having a road map for your goals.

Keep Reading Show less
women
Pop Culture

Millennials nearing 40 are sharing their biggest mistakes so everyone can learn from them

Here are 21 of the most powerful responses.

via Pexels

Millennials are now old enough to seriously reflect on life.

It seems like only yesterday a millennial was a college kid that baby boomers chided for being entitled and Gen Xers thought were way too sincere and needed to learn how to take a joke. Today, the oldest millennials, those born around 1980, have hit their 40s and have lived long enough to have some serious regrets.

They also have enough experience to take some pride in decisions that, in hindsight, were the right moves.

The good news is that at 40 there is still plenty of time to learn from our successes and failures to set ourselves up for a great second half of life. These lessons are also valuable to the Gen Zers coming up who can avoid the pitfalls of the older generation.

A Reddit user who has since deleted their profile asked millennials nearing 40 “what were your biggest mistakes at this point in life?” and they received more than 2,200 responses. The biggest regrets these millennials have are being flippant about their health and not saving enough money when they were younger.

Keep Reading Show less
millennials
Joy

Stop blaming the 'Karens.' The people who complain the most have a different name.

The stereotype has been wrong all along.

via Rickey123/Pixabay

A woman giving a stern warning.

Over the past few years, women named Karen have taken a lot of heat in the media. The term "Karen" has been used to describe a specific type of entitled, privileged and often middle-aged white woman. Typically, "Karen” is depicted as demanding, self-important and constantly seeking to escalate minor inconveniences to authority figures, like demanding to "speak to the manager."

Identifying the folks who create unnecessary drama in our world is important. But calling them a “Karen” isn’t the best way to solve the problem. There are many reasons to have an issue with the “Karen” stereotype. First, it’s terrible for people named Karen, and it’s also a connotation that many feel is racist , sexist and ageist.

Further, according to a new study by Trustpilot , the stereotype isn’t accurate. A recent survey by the online media site found that the people who leave the most one-star reviews aren’t female, and the women who do it the most aren’t named Karen.

Keep Reading Show less
memes
Trending Stories