Sometimes you can recall the exact moment you learned about a life-changing event. Like where you were when major world news broke, or when you reached an important milestone. For us, we can identify the day we first saw the viral butter board trend.
We were scrolling through TikTok last September before being confronted with a colorful, creamy spread on our screens.
We immediately wondered: is it whipped ricotta? Is it brie? And then we experienced a mixture of surprise, horror, and intrigue when Justine Doiron of @justine_snacks revealed that the food on the wooden board was, in fact, butter.
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It’s safe to say that the trend spread like wildfire, sparking plenty of internet commentary and even more butter board recipe inspo. We even decided to make one ourselves. Butter boards dominated the food news cycle and our social media feeds for weeks. And then, like most food trends, its star faded over time.
We thought we had left butter boards in the past, until we encountered a recent TikTok by @prettyrabid that claimed the butter board trend was not merely a spontaneous, creative appetizer idea. Instead, the user alleges that the entire concept was a marketing ploy by the dairy industry.
Delish editors were too stunned to speak. So we decided to do some digging to see if these allegations were true.
According to an article in Dairy Foods Magazine, it all comes back to the trade association Dairy Management Incorporated, or DMI. DMI uses government-mandated dairy fees and federal tax dollars to promote the sale of American dairy products around the country. They’re also the association responsible for the iconic “Got Milk?” campaign.
Dairy Foods Magazine reports that DMI assembled a “Dairy Dream Team” of some of the nation's leading chefs, recipe developers, and influencers to create dairy-focused content for Gen Z consumers. The Dairy Dream Team included streamer Mr. Beast, Hot Ones host Sean Evans (which explains the convenient milk pitcher featured in every episode), and you guessed it, Justine Doiron.
Serena Schaffner, senior VP of communications at DMI, revealed to Dairy Processing Magazine that Doiron’s butter board video was a campaign for their association. “This is where the ‘butter board’ craze originated and created a lightning-strike moment for dairy,” Schaffer said.
So, as it turns out, the theory that butter boards were a marketing ploy actually tracks. It makes us wonder: how many other trends can be linked back to massive PR campaigns? Now we're looking at the viral posts about cottage cheese with some more scrutiny...
Gabby Romero is Delish’s editorial assistant, where she writes stories about the latest TikTok trends, develops recipes, and answers any and all of your cooking-related questions. She loves eating spicy food, collecting cookbooks, and adding a mountain of Parmesan to any dish she can.
