NEW YORK (AP) — Legit gross or crazy delicious?

Butter boards, the polarizing stepchild of charcuterie, have taken TikTok to new food-craze heights as some horrified safety and nutrition experts look on. And now, heading into the holidays, the boards are landing on tables as quick, inexpensive alternatives to the meat- and fancy cheese-laden OG despite a winter butter shortage projected for the U.S. that could drive up prices and make it more difficult to find in supermarkets.

Justine Doiron, who creates food content as @justine-snacks on TikTok and Instagram, got the butter board party started on Sept. 15. She is credited with coining the term in a video that has her spreading it with abandon on a cutting board and topping it with, among many other things, edible flowers.

She got the idea — jazzed up butter on wood — from chef Joshua McFadden's 2017 cookbook with Martha Holmberg, “Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables.”

Doiron went viral with her busy butter board and hand swipes with thick, crusty slices of bread.

Copycat videos under the #butterboard hashtag have since racked up more than 240 million views on TikTok. Searches related to the topic have reached 10 billion on the platform, with decorated mountains of butter also going strong on Instagram.

And the boards themselves have spawned sweet sister versions, vegan cousins and ice cream aunts and uncles.

Magnolia Bakery posted a video of buttercream frosting being spread artfully on a cake stand with pieces of cookie, brownies, rainbow sprinkles and other goodies for swiping. Toothpicks were involved, as opposed to all hands in. Ben & Jerry's filmed a frozen version.

Private chefs are fielding lots of requests from clients now looking for spreadables on boards. Kevin Hart's Los Angeles chef, Kai Chase, said she created several of the boards for him as a splurge.

Darin Detwiler, an assistant teaching professor of food policy at Northeastern University and an expert on food industry regulation, sees the potential for pathogens everywhere when it comes to butter boards. Wood boards crack and those cracks can't adequately be cleaned, he said.

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