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The hottest new trend on TikTok is a ridiculously simple one-dish feta-and-tomato pasta recipe that’s so hot, Charlotte grocery stores apparently can’t keep blocks of the cheese on the shelf.

At the Ballantyne Publix, only feta crumbles are to be found, with the exception of a lonely barrel-aged feta block ($4.99) that TikTokers apparently believe to be insufficient.

“We’ve been selling a lot of it lately … we do think it’s from ‘TikTok pasta,’” laughed a Publix deli department employee this week. “Everybody’s wanting to make it.”

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Ledger sources say other stores are also experiencing the shortage, including the Fresh Market in Dilworth and the Harris Teeter at Cotswold. Joe Bruno of WSOC reported on Twitter that the Food Lion in east Charlotte was also out:

Joe Bruno @JoeBrunoWSOC9

@CltLedger reporting live from the block feta cheese section of the east Charlotte Food Lion

WFAE reporter Claire Donnelly found the same in Plaza-Midwood:

claire donnelly @donnellyclairee

@JoeBrunoWSOC9 @CltLedger Same at the Plaza Midwood Teeter!!

You can’t blame the TikTokers. The dish — which we’ve made, and found scrumptious — involves putting cherry tomatoes seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper in a baking dish with a full block of feta cheese in the middle, and baking it in the oven until the feta melts. Then, you smash the tomatoes and blend them with cheese to form a sauce, mix that with cooked pasta, and behold — you’ve baked the hottest thing on TikTok.

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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Reporting intern: David Griffith

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New Charlotte shortage: feta cheese, thanks…