The Internet Is Tearing Apart Trying To Define What The Fuck A Casserole Is

The bizarre thing that did it this time was one of Australia‘s most widely loved and most attractive writers, Benjamin Law, posting to Twitter challenging people to define what exactly constitutes a casserole (an intensely white person dish):

Challenge for white people: without using a dictionary, can you tell me what constitutes a “casserole”? IT IS A MYSTERY & NO ONE CAN AGREE.

— Benjamin Law (@mrbenjaminlaw) July 12, 2016

It turns out that is actually an insanely good question: what in the sweet hot fuck separates a casserole from a stew or a bake or even a lasagne? A bunch of people were relatively certain they had the right answer, except no one could quuuiiite agree:

@JamColley So wait can a big lasagne be a casserole?

— Benjamin Law (@mrbenjaminlaw) July 12, 2016

@mrbenjaminlaw Also, what’s the difference between a casserole and a stew? Is it just a curry without the spice?

— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) July 12, 2016

@shalailah @mrbenjaminlaw Casserole is leftovers. Stew is stuff you forgot you had in the pantry and frig

— Chris Bartlett (@bartman6) July 12, 2016

@mrbenjaminlaw mostly liquids but also solids

— H(eather)acklock (@hacklocked) July 12, 2016

@mrbenjaminlaw @oz_f I think I had one once. It’s consists of whatever an old white person puts in it. No set recipe. No set taste.

— Josh Aitken (@joshaitken) July 12, 2016

@mrbenjaminlaw The term has fallen out of favour & is now often called ‘a bake’. eg my childhood tuna mornay casserole is ‘a tuna bake’

— Mel Campbell (@incrediblemelk) July 12, 2016

@inexorablist @frippet @incrediblemelk @mrbenjaminlaw Isn’t a casserole on the stove and a stew in the oven?

— Anna Spargo-Ryan (@annaspargoryan) July 12, 2016

@mrbenjaminlaw it’s about the vibe of the thing

— Jessica Alice (@jessica_alice_) July 12, 2016

@mrbenjaminlaw a casserole is anything that could be served in a pie served without the pie.

— Jacob King (@jamaising) July 12, 2016

@mrbenjaminlaw apparently casserole is heated ‘from above’ (oven) while a stew is heated ‘from below’ (stove).

— Ms Rachy Doodle (@MsRachyDoodle) July 12, 2016

@mrbenjaminlaw any meal largely consisting of sauce and carbs baked in the oven (excl. lasagna).

— Jordan Gregory (@jordansgregory) July 12, 2016

At this stage you might be thinking ‘Who cares?’ but the answer to that is a lot of people, apparently. The answer it seems is actually pretty straightforward: “A kind of stew that is cooked slowly in an oven.”

I’m still pretty confident in my own dumbshit answer to the question:

@mrbenjaminlaw it’s the non-tuna version of a tuna casserole

— thomas violence (@thomas_violence) July 12, 2016