Fine dining when I was growing up meant a trip to Pellicci’s Restaurant. Pellicci’s was (and is) a family-run, red sauce, red and white tablecloth Italian place. We were allowed to order orange sodas, and we learned how to twirl spaghetti with forks in enormous soup spoons there. Sometimes, when my father was feeling flush, he would order an antipasto salad which we shared among us. He would eat the exotic rolled slices of pepperoni and salami, and the olives. My brother and I ate the radish roses and the celery sticks. My mother would sample the rolled cheeses and breadsticks. There was something for everyone; just a little taste to hone our appetites for the enormous plates of spaghetti to come.

These days charcuterie boards are like the old antipastos, except even bigger, with more types of foods. Your family could eat well while sharing one, without ever needing the bowl of steaming pasta and meatballs. I like doing a charcuterie board when I can find an excuse not to cook, which is often: too hot, too cold, too tired, too lazy, out of ideas, running late, ooops, you thought we’d be eating dinner, again? This is when it pays to plan, just a little bit, for any emergency. There is always a little stash of charcuterie treats in the fridge. Cheese, olives, pepperoni, celery, and radishes have long shelf lives. We don’t often have TV dinners, but this is a good one. Add some cheap white wine, a locally crafted beer, or even some orange soda- live large.

“Charcuterie” refers to the preparation of cured meats, like prosciutto, pancetta, speck, salami, summer sausage, chorizo or pepperoni. It is an all-encompassing term nowadays, meats, a variety of cheeses, pâté, crackers, nuts, fruits and vegetables, and mustards, hummus and dipping sauces. Some people prepare beautiful charcuterie boards. https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/charcuterie-board/

There are guides you can find for pleasing arrangements of comestibles. Please promise me that you can figure this out for yourselves, that you don’t need to send $1.50 through PayPal for this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1164392348/charcuterie-png-jpeg-file-charcuterie? I have even seen manufactured charcuterie boards with designated, labeled areas for each food type. Heavens to Betsy!
https://www.sophistiplate.com/products/waiting-on-martha-build-your-own-cheese-charcuterie-board-16-x-12-maple-wood?

Do not spend your hard-earned money on that. If you need ideas, and you want to spend money, go to your favorite independent book store and buy a cookbook or two.

And decide what foods will appeal to your audience. The under-12 set will not notice your carefully-arranged-by-region array of imported meats and cheeses. They’ll be gobbling the pigs-in-blankets and grapes and Goldfish. Your book club might care if you have recreated a spread from Eat, Drink, Pray, Love, but they will be drinking your wine, too. Mr. Sanders likes fancy hams and sausages and nicely toasted rounds of garlic bread, good Kalamata olives and and shaved Parmesan, or maybe a little bruschetta, with crumbles of feta cheese falling to the floor to the absolute delight of Luke the wonder dog. I like rolls of pepperoni and Provelone cheese, with a little swipe of Colman’s mustard. Plus every variation on a cheese straw that I can find. Sometimes I take the time to make my own Parmesan crisps. Yumsters! https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/parmesan-crisps-recipe-3381387

You can add anything and everything to your charcuterie board. And you don’t even need a board. I’ve used cookie sheets, cutting boards, Thanksgiving turkey platters, and even an old pizza pan. Then rummage in the fridge, or take a slow walk through the deli department. I’ve noticed that Boar’s Head has an over-priced package of “Charcuterie”. https://boarshead.com/charcuteriepairing? Bosh. Get the deli to cut some fresh slices of meat and cheese for you. Buy a stick of pepperoni. Wander though the cheeses and buy some nice Parmesan or Jarlsberg. But I have had some very tasty chunks of domestic Cracker Barrel Cheddar on top of Triscuits, with pepperoni coins and have been perfectly happy. Throw in some peanuts, grapes, strawberries and maybe some chocolate. Oh, don’t forget veggies. They are not just for the children.

I do love using little bowls and dishes that I have collected over the years to hold the olives, radishes, chocolates, crackers, etc. Nothing speaks of a John Cheever WASPy cocktail party like a tiny silver bowl holding half a dozen potato chips.

Find an excuse not to cook tonight, and concoct a practically labor-free charcuterie board. Relax for a change of pace. It’s going to be a long summer.
https://www.bhg.com/recipes/party/appetizers/how-to-build-a-simple-charcuterie/

“It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate, you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”
-Julia Child

I didn’t learn about Juneteenth when I was growing up. I was taught that Lincoln freed the slaves, and we all lived happily ever after. I learned later in life that Juneteenth is named for the day in the middle of June of 1865, when the Union Major General Granger announced the end of slavery to the last enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. The first Juneteenth celebration was held the following year, and the celebrations have spread to every corner of the country since.

I want to be careful about writing about Juneteenth. I don’t want to appropriate the significance of this Black American holiday which is only being recognized by the government as a federal holiday for the first time this year, 157 years since the actual event.

As a food writer and home cook it is easy for me to wander the halls of history and culture and pick up a soupçon of French style, a dollop of Greek passion, a nibble of Middle Eastern angst, or a taste of British class conflict. I am a mongrel American, but I am a white American. I grew up in a household of bland food, where garlic was considered exotic. My mother relied on convenience foods like boxes of frozen vegetables. We had cubed steaks for dinner, and bologna sandwiches for lunch. Pizza was exotic. I was 18 before I ever saw a Brussels sprout, and 25 before I tasted okra. Now we are lucky enough to sample foods from all over the world through the heritage of many cultures who live in our country. Life is richer and more flavorful here in the inclusive 21st century.

This Juneteenth I will be doing some home cooking to honor the legacy of the Black Texans on the anniversary of Emancipation Day. I will try to honor the memory of enslaved cooks who brought African cooking to America. I’ll remember their pain and suffering, while cooking some of their traditional recipes which have enriched and enlivened Southern cooking.

A good place to start is with okra. Enslaved West Africans brought okra seeds to America in the 1700s. They also brought watermelon, yam, black-eyed pea, and pepper seeds. You can find okra in regional varieties of gumbo stew, or breaded and fried. Of course, almost anything tastes better fried.
https://www.foodfidelity.com/southern-fried-okra/

Here is a tasty salad that will feed a holiday crowd: https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7916898/okra-greens-salad-from-brazil/

Always popular are okra stews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3dl8rlBBzA&t=1s

If you have a lot of okra on hand, and those CSA boxes are often packed with it, Food52 can help you decide what to do: https://food52.com/recipes/okra

But if you are squeamish about okra, there are many other foods served at Juneteenth celebrations: fried chicken, barbecue, tomato salads, red beans and rice, and strawberry pie. There is something for everyone: https://www.seriouseats.com/juneteenth-menu-5189136

Spread the joy of freedom and emancipation, of equality and fairness this Juneteenth. Liberty for all.

“Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory or an acceptance of the way things are. It’s a celebration of progress. It’s an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, change is possible—and there is still so much work to do.”
— Barack Obama