What is the Difference Between a Charcuterie Board and a Cheese Board?

Editor’s note: Despite the fact that you may find charcuterie on a cheese board and cheese on a charcuterie board, a charcuterie board and a cheese board are not the same thing.

"Charcuterie Board" by monpetitchouphotography is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Thanks to social media, there’s a new food trend every 15 minutes, or so it seems. There was dalgona coffee last year, and baked feta pasta a few months back. Recently, it’s been various snack items artfully arranged on a wooden or marble board. The internet calls these “charcuterie boards” and according to Google the term charcuterie has skyrocketed in usage recently. There are “chocolate charcuterie boards,” with candy scattered across it. There are “Mediterranean charcuterie boards,” with veggies, hummus, and pita bread. “A Valentine’s Day charcuterie board could have a small bowl of conversation hearts, red cinnamon gummy bears, and LOTS of chocolate,” says the blog Mom on Timeout. The problem is, these “charcuterie boards” don’t have any charcuterie.

What is Charcuterie?

If you don’t work in the specialty food industry, this all may sound rather innocuous. If you do, you may have just experienced a fight or flight response. Charcuterie has become a catchall for anything that is served on a board. But the word “charcuterie” is a French term, from the words char (flesh) + cuit (cooked). Historically, that word has meant prepared meat products, such as pâté, guanciale, salami, bacon, and more. However, many of these trendy “charcuterie boards” don’t have any meat, or certainly aren’t meat-focused. 

A photo labeled as charcuterie that, in fact, includes no charcuterie

A Confusion of Terms

Some cheese professionals see this as an unfortunate but understandable mixup. “I actually don’t have crazy strong feelings about people calling it charcuterie. I sort of feel like, if it means people are eating more cheese, I’m all for it,” says Andi Wandt, a cheesemaker at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont. Wandt thinks of this as similar to misuse of the word “sharp,” which for cheese folk means “acidic,” and for the general consumer can mean anywhere from “salty” to “aged” to “flavorful.” She adds, “We as cheese professionals tend to be really exacting with our words and to expect that from the average consumer can be alienating.”

For those in a more service-oriented role, it can be a bigger deal. Zoey Sachs, Catering Director at Bedford Cheese Shop in New York City explains, “I get so many phone calls that start with ‘I need a charcuterie board’ and halfway through the call they go ‘Oh and meat as well’.” Of course, when it feels appropriate to politely explain the terms, the customer can receive a 30-second education. But, it’s not appropriate for every interaction.

Welcoming Back the Cheese Board

A board with cheese and charcuterie

This can also make it tricky for staff when a customer comes to pick up their order. Sachs says, “My poor co-workers who aren’t mongers get so confused - they’re like, ‘... it was a meat board? Your order is for a large farmstead cheeseboard.’ Each interaction like this is a delicate balance of extending hospitality and warmth while politely and efficiently trying to translate what the customer says they want versus what they actually want.  

In fact, this happens frequently enough that Sachs says her coworkers now say to her, “The customer is mistaken about what a charcuterie board is, would you like to scream into the void of the walk in for 5 minutes?”

Hopefully, for the sake of Sachs and other customer-facing cheese professionals, the “charcuterie board” trend goes away quickly, and demand for the good old cheese board returns.