Ahh, fall. It's the best season of the year. The weather is perfect, the air is crisp, scarves and boots abound. And all things Pumpkin Spice flavored emerge in the stores and fill my belly.

That's right, I LOVE PUMPKIN FLAVORED SH*T AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO SAY IT!

It's the best flavor. It's warm and comforting, and it fills me with joy because I know that I am now experiencing the best time of the year. Autumn is magical. Leaves change color and fall, Halloween is approaching, football season is in progress, I can wear all my cozy sweaters and hats and Christmas is right around the corner. Pumpkin spice reminds me of home, of Thanksgiving and family, of apple cider and the state fair and comfort, that times are changing and new beginnings are approaching. Pumpkin spice is like a warm blanket. A warm, delicious blanket.

But recently, pumpkin flavor has gotten a bad reputation.

For some reason, possibly related to Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte (or PSL), pumpkin flavored foods have gone completely real-life viral. You can find pumpkin flavored everything, from Oreos to vodka. The pumpkin spice craze is real. And for a good reason. Pumpkin flavored things (usually) taste like sweet, delicious autumn. I'll try them all, thanks. But the negativity is just as rampant as the pumpkin flavored products. Pumpkin spice critics have risen from the depths of their flavor-deprived lives to ridicule and demean those of us who are wise enough to know better.

Maybe it's because liking something that a million other people agree is awesome is too ~mainstream~ for some people, so they have to resort to mockery. Maybe it's the reputation that pumpkin is a "white girl" flavor, but let's be real, pumpkin is an everyone flavor. We've been eating pumpkin pie for like 300 years. Why is it so taboo now? We should all be celebrating that mainstream companies have realized the majesty that is pumpkin spice and are offering it to us in all of these various forms. I mean, I know I am.

So I'm going to go to Starbucks and get a PSL, and I'm going to eat all of the other delicious foods that are pumpkin flavored because I CAN and I WANT TO and your judgement of my food choices isn't going to slow me down. And fellow pumpkin lovers, eat your hearts out. Because it's the best flavor of the year.