If you ever worked in a restaurant as a youth and had black co-workers, they would duck the fuck out the instant a black party showed up. They'd say "you handle this shit, you know niggas don't tip!"
I usually have it as a fuckup solver. I am nearly at the end of a dish, and suddenly I realize my gravy is way too thin and will never work. So I suddenly, desperately reach for some cornstarch, mix a slurry of it with cold water and stir that to dissolve it, then rescue the gravy I fucked up.
It's generally an emergency ingredient for me.
There are some exceptions (like egg drop soup) where it's actually an ingredient.
Usually, though, it's a bailout "help me I fucked up" ingredient, at least for me.