I seriously dislike when someone on Pinterest tries to convince me to pin their recipe by putting the word “crack” in it. First of all, I find it tasteless to invoke the name of a life-destroying drug to get someone to click on your bland casserole. Are we unaware of how serious addiction is or do we just find it funny?

Of course, I understand they are trying to make a point that this recipe is so tasty it’s as addictive as hard drugs. But I don’t think that makes it better. Personally, because I got obsessive about hobbies or activities or even food when I was a child, I am now completely disinterested in anything that claims to be highly addictive.

When an ex-boyfriend tried to get me to play World of Warcraft by telling me how addicted he became to it, all I could think was, “I would never touch this game.” Because why am I knowingly involving myself with something I know could lead me down this path?

Also, I have never had crack. Never tried it. Why would I want to make a recipe that is just like something I have never tried? Especially when that something is an illegal substance.

Finally, my biggest complaint about this ridiculous way of labeling food is that “crack” tells me nothing about the actual dish. Crack chicken cassrole could vaguely mean any of the following:

• Really good chicken casserole
• Addictive chicken casserole
• Tasty and a little edgy chicken casserole

It’s not like this word describes the qualities of the casserole. I would rather engage with a pin for “creamy chicken casserole” or “spicy chicken casserole.” Crack chicken casserole is such a lazy shorthand for “you should engage with this pin for capitalism for capitalism reasons” without supplying any real reason to do so.

I am mostly annoyed with this trend because it is so strikingly prevalent on Pinterest. Whenever I look for cool new recipe ideas, I am besieged with pins labeling the contents as crack. It becomes meaningless after a while. Crack is just a stand in for “boring,” “pedestrian,” or “yet even more recipes from white women with blogs who have no spices or herbs in their food other than salt and pepper (and sometimes not even that).”

Do better, Pinterest. Do better.

Not sure how long I have had this rattling around in my brain. But wow, does it feel good to get it all out!