Milk Bar Changes the Name of Iconic ‘Crack Pie' After Criticism

The famous Milk Bar "Crack Pie" shall henceforth be known as "Milk Bar Pie," after the name of the pie was slammed in a column published by the "Boston Globe."

In a letter published on the Milk Bar website Monday, pastry chef Christina Tosi announced that her company had changed the name of the pie. 

“Our mission, after all, is to spread joy and inspire celebration. The name Crack Pie falls short of this mission,” the letter said. “The old name was getting in the way of letting the gooey, buttery slice bring happiness— my only goal in creating the thing in the first place.”

The change comes after a long controversy about the allusion to the addictive nature of crack cocaine -- and the resulting epidemic in the 80s and 90s that heavily affected black communities.

In a column by Devra First in the Boston Globe published last month, First wrote that the name was “not cute.”

“A bakery would never try to market something called Fentanyl Cake, and the name Crack Pie feels offensively off-key,” she said. “The language of addiction is frequently deployed when it comes to food, and it’s time to stop.”

And stop they did.

“The fact of the matter is, anyone who visits this website or our stores or our social media is our family too, and we listen to what you have to say,” Tosi’s letter said. “While change is never easy, we feel this is the right decision.”

Now a hugely popular dessert chain, Milk Bar was founded by Tosi while she was working at Momofuku, a famous New York restaurant owned by chef and restaurateur David Chang. 

Since launching in 2008, Milk Bar now has multiple outlets in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Boston, Las Vegas and Toronto.