The Big Cheese 🧀

My thoughts on the charcuterie of it all....

I have to give it to cheese boards…

They got me here! Additionally… I could never deny the fact that they’re delicious. The ULTIMATE girl dinner, if you will. They’re also gorgeous, crowd pleasing and… dare I say… viral?! Not like, in the sick way (haha, sick.) but in the internet viral way.

Obviously, I owe a lot to cheese boards. In some roundabout way, I think that my viral cheese board videos could get some of the credit for this newsletter. So, it feels a little bit spooky to slander them! Am I slandering them, though? I still don’t know. I’ve been thinking about what I want to say in this newsletter all week. The jury is still out, but for those of you holding out hope for a resurgence of the cheese board creation tiktoks… I’m afraid you’re out of luck.

one of the two cheese boards I’ve made this year. Yes. Two.

Not to toot my own horn, but I can make a pretty nice cheese board. I think that they offer a lot in the way of possible cheese/fruit/cracker/nut/meat combinations, but I also think they look stunning. So, why have I only made two in the past nine months? On top of that, why did I stop making 5-7 each week when I moved to Charleston? Well, that’s easy. I left my main client base! When I moved away from Nashville I knew that I wouldn’t try to keep up my cheese board slangin’ ways. Who would want to buy a cheese board that a stranger made in her apartment kitchen? I don’t know, because I never tried to market myself as a cheese board entrepreneur in Charleston.

I was moving away to do something new. I was moving out from under my parents’ roof for the first time in my life (ok, besides college, but I was paying my own rent for the first time). Although I minored in business, I am not what one would call financially literate. So, I can’t really tell you what the margins were on my cheese boards when I was making them in Nashville. I can tell you, however, that I wasn’t making the most of my side hustle. Sure, I was making some cash on the side, but once that first cheese board video went viral, it became less about making money and more about chasing that sweet sweet high of thousands of notifications an hour 🤑.

A salad board I made for my mom. salad board. forreal?!

For a minute there, everything was about the board. Pictured above is a salad board I made for my mom and her friends. Honestly, I’m curious about how it all shook out. Was it easy to customize individual salads from this monstrosity? Or, was it all about the wow factor? That avocado rose isn’t looking super share-friendly, IMO. The raw bell pepper? The un-toasted slivered almonds? Sure, it looks stunning, but where’s the flavor?! What’s the point if these boards aren’t as delicious as they are beautiful?

I’ve made dessert boards, breakfast boards, even an Arby's board. I’m actually getting kind of nostalgic looking back at these videos. They were so much fun to make, but at the end of the day creating cheese board content is not my ultimate calling. I’m so passionate about food and cooking and exploring different cuisines and connecting with people over a home cooked meal. Putting together elaborate boards- whether it be cheese, salad or otherwise, don’t give me that sense of excitement and creativity that cooking a meal or developing a recipe does.

A board I made with Marissa of ThatCheesePlate!

I think my main gripe with the extravagant cheese boards that gained me my following is that they’re so excessive. Sure, if you’re having a huge party and you want something for everyone to graze on they can be nice. But in order to get that ✨look✨ of a show stopping cheese board, you need a lot of stuff. Stuff that oftentimes doesn’t even get eaten. There have been countless parties and get togethers where the cheeseboard aftermath is some leftover cheese crumbles, a couple of sweaty pieces of salami and enough nuts and dried fruit to sustain an entire family of squirrels through a brutal winter.

I’m so dramatic, but the waste of it all really started getting to me! Also, if you’ve ever set out to make a cheese board of your own, you know how pricy they can get. Back in my cheese mogul days, I could use some supplies to fill up a couple of boards, but if I’m just making one I could easily drop $100 on the supplies to put a big board together. Not to mention the cheese to cracker to meat ratio is nearly impossible to nail. Boards always run out of crackers so fast!

A fall board that I was sure would go viral. It didn’t.

So, where does this leave us? I still love a cheese and cracker as much as any wine guzzling mom who totallllly read this month’s book club pick and totalllly didn’t just show up for the snacks and a few hours away from her kids (btw, I’ll check in when that becomes my reality).

My cheese boards and cheese-centric snacks have just changed a little bit. Now you can find me making a much more realistic albeit less extravagant plate of cheese, crackers, fruit & nuts. If you want the luxury of a cheese board without all of the work, here are some of my favorite combinations that are easy enough for an afternoon snack, but nice enough to serve as hors d'oeuvres if you have company.

• Goat cheese with pepper jelly or honey- just let a log of goat cheese come up to room temp on a plate & drizzle with honey or top with your favorite pepper jelly. Serve with crackers. Optionally, add some prosciutto or salami for a meaty savory pairing.

• Boursin with cherry peppers- I absolutely love the bright tangy sweetness of cherry peppers with the creamy herbiness of boursin. You can usually grab a container of cherry peppers from the olive bar at your grocery store. I like to stuff them with boursin- the perfect bite!

• Manchego with fig jam- An absolute CLASSIC! This has been one of my favorite cheese combos for years. I like to cut a wedge of manchego into triangles and serve alongside a jar of fig jam. Works great on a super crispy cracker!

• Aged Cheddar with Italian dry salami- This ultra-savory and sharp combo goes great on my favorite crackers from Trader Joe’s that are studded with dried fruit and herbs. If you can’t tell, I LOVE a sweet/savory combo!

• Crudité platter- Some of my favorite crunchy + fresh elements on my boards were sliced persian cucumbers and halved baby rainbow carrots. I highly recommend adding some of these elements to any entertaining spread along with your fav seasonal fruits!

At the end of the day, I’m not a cheesemonger or a butcher. I don’t have any formal culinary education. I know that these things aren’t precursors to being a credible and trusted source, but there’s part of me that feels like a not-so knowledgeable authority on cheese. There are some creators out there that have made learning and teaching about cheese their entire career, and if you want more cheese content I highly recommend checking them out! Some of my favs are Marissa of That Cheese Plate. She also recently started a substack called Extra Sharp! Check it out :) I also love Erika of Cheese Sex Death. Her videos and posts are super informative, and I’ve learned a lot by following her!

I think I’ve probably gone on long enough about my complicated feelings re: cheese boards. At the end of the day, it’s not the content I’m passionate about anymore. I’m really proud of the ways I’ve grown as a home cook. I love developing recipes and sharing food with the people I love. Are there more cheese boards in my future? Of course!!!! If you’re reading this (and if you’ve gotten this far), I have to assume that you’re here for some of the non-cheese content. I appreciate you, and hope that I’m still providing value to your feeds ❤️