Padma Lakshmi Basically Hates The Butter Board Trend
All viral food trends can be categorized into three groups: Those that stick around (aren't we still making baked oats and pasta chips?), those that quickly get boring (Dalgona coffee, who?), and those that divide the internet. This year seems to be the year of butter boards and it falls into the best of all three categories — the kind that has the internet in an uproar.
Butter boards are a take on classic charcuterie boards except they replace the meats and cheese with, well, butter. Rather than a selection of different elements, however, butter boards are made by slathering a single glob of butter directly onto a wooden board and covering it in various toppings. Some love this new version of a charcuterie board, some are repulsed by it, and Padma Lakshmi for one — who prefers her butter boards with strained lassi instead of butter, and crackers instead of bread — is far from amused by the trend.
The "Taste The Nation" host didn't hold back on her thoughts about the butter board trend during an interview with Allure. "Who the f*** wants to eat pure butter? Why do you want to drag a cracker through butter?" she asked. Butter and bread are a combination that shouldn't be messed with and Lakshmi doesn't seem to be too happy about TikTokers dunking crackers, pancakes, vegetables, and basically anything but bread in their butter boards. Her verdict? "That is a trend that I'm not sorry to see go."
The Top Chef judge is one of many who want butter boards gone
Padma Lakshmi isn't known to hold back on her opinions about food, but this time she isn't the only one repulsed by butter boards. The credit for this divisive trend goes to Justine Doiron, who first posted the video of a butter board on TikTok in September 2022. She spread a thick layer of butter directly onto a wooden board, topped it with flaky salt, herbs, sliced onions, lemon zest, edible petals, and a drizzle of honey, and dunked a piece of bread into the mix.
@themodernnonna A Butter Board IS THE MOST BRILLIANT IDEA I Have Ever Come Across 🤯 IB: @justine_snacks #butter #butterboard #fyp
Although some TikTokers were mesmerized by the new wonder, the video got an equal amount of backlash too. A comment on the same video posted on Instagram found that "the need for things to be aesthetic over actually logical/useful has gone mad." Much as Lakshmi couldn't get behind the trend, netizens complain that the biggest problem with butter boards is the lack of hygiene.
"Seems like a good way to get other people's germs unless you scoop it with a spoon," replied one user concerned about the amount of double-dipping butter boards require. Another put-off netizen commented, "lapping up everyone's saliva, delicious!" Considering we live in an era where COVID-19 has left important lessons on hygiene and social distancing, many find that butter boards are greasy communal pools full of germs. As one comment pointed out: "Has 2 years of Covid taught us nothing people!?"