Every few weeks, the internet finds a new thing to despise or exalt. For the last few weeks, that tragic main character has been the butter board: a reincarnation of the wholesome bread and butter staple, reforged in the sun-drenched kitchens of food bloggers.
While originally coined in a 2017 cookbook by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg, a September 15 TikTok video by recipe developer Justine Doiron (@justine_snacks) slingshotted the concept into fickle internet fame as a potential runner-up to charcuterie boards. (The video has since been viewed more than 8.5 million times).
A butter board, the humble cousin of charcuterie, has faced an uphill battle online. Fans have called it genius and the best culinary trick they've found in years, while detractors mainly take issue with the volume of butter required and fear of double dippers (though you can serve it with knives).
Bon Appetit polled its staffers on whether or not they were "team butter board," while The New York Times crowned it a late-pandemic "augur of feasts to come," like a dairy-ified Groundhog's Day bankrolled by the Midwest.
But not that many people seem to have tried it. So I roped in a group of friends and fed them eight ounces of butter under a handful of toppings. Here's how it went: