Culinary content creators have turned charcuterie into a visual art form. For Marissa Mullen, founder of "That Cheese Plate," designing a resplendent cheese board or array of sliced meats is a passion project.

Charcuterie boards have evolved from their traditional French roots, where they primarily featured preserved meats, to a modern trend that encompasses a wide range of foods arranged artistically on boards. Social media platforms, particularly Instagram, have fueled this movement, with influencers like Marissa Mullen turning their passion for cheese and charcuterie into full-time careers and inspiring creative presentations for holidays and events.

While the original definition of charcuterie centers on meat, the trend in the United States has broadened to include cheese, vegetables, candy, and even pasta. Renowned chefs emphasize the importance of tradition, but the enjoyment of these boards ultimately lies in the communal and cathartic experience of sharing and eating the artistic creations.

The beauty of charcuterie

From giant grazing tables packed with delectable delights to Halloween scare-cootery featuring frighteningly fleshy cheese-filled fingers, culinary content creators have taken the art of the cheese or charcuterie board to new heights. I love a beautiful charcuterie! Wowzer, dowser, dowser! Why is this such a big thing online? When you're scrolling on Instagram and you see beautiful food, it makes you hungry, it's beautiful to look at, and I think that people love to share photos of their food. Marissa Mullen launched her Instagram, ThatCheesePlate, in 2013. What started as a passion project became so successful that Mullen quit her job to take it full-time. Is there any limit to this charcuterie craze? I haven't seen it yet. She's written cookbooks, arranges cheese tasting and events, and teaches classes. I'll do a little salami fan. Like this one last weekend in New York's Hudson Valley. Now, we should probably mention the word charcuterie traditionally refers to meat, a combination of the French words for cooked and flesh. But as Mullen explains... When a trend takes over, it forms a life of its own. And in the States, anything you put on a board can be called charcuterie. Things like crudités, candy... I mean, come on! Even this incredible pasta-themed charcuterie board I made. Holidays provide a special opportunity for creative flair. I've created the charcuterie, which is a Christmas wreath-shaped charcuterie board for Thanksgiving charcuterie. For Valentine's Day, I always love to do the brie-mine plate, which is like... Brie-mine. I love a good cheese pun. But while charcuterie is party food here in the States, it's much more to the French. I mean, in France, we eat charcuterie for breakfast, we eat charcuterie for lunch, we eat charcuterie for snack in the afternoon, or you eat charcuterie at dinner parties. I love it! And people will drive miles and miles and hundreds of miles to go and get a good charcuterie. A specific saucisson. Voilà. Danielle Blue is one of the most celebrated chefs in the world. So, if a board has a display of food items, but it does not have meat, is it charcuterie? No. Not for me. So, what is the history of charcuterie? Why did the French start it? Because the beauty of charcuterie is that you can preserve it. I was born and raised on a farm, and in February, when it was the coldest months, that's where you slaughter the pig and make charcuterie for the whole year. Arthur Daen is the chef charcutier for Blue's restaurants and makes all of their charcuterie in-house. So, we have a terrine of pork and morels, we have the pâté de campagne, we have a terrine of guignan and pistachio, pâté en croûte. Each one different, representing different regions, using different cuts of meat. That's so delicious. It's delicate, perfectly cooked, and I'm sure all our cameramen like to taste it, too. We're taking a break. In the end, whether you're talking about meat or cheese, whether you call it charcuterie or not, eating these artistic creations is really about the eating. I always say the cathartic part is just ripping it up, just destroying your work of art and eating it. It's like a life and death cycle. It's like a life and death cycle.

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