When you think of a fine charcuterie tray, you may envision a fancy Italian restaurant, a wooden board covered with sliced meats and various cheeses, perhaps served with a glass of wine. You can still find it there, of course. But these days, you are just as likely to find a charcuterie serving in a retail plastic tray with cheddar cheese crumbles and dried cranberries – an adult version of a children’s lunch kit.

With the meat snack market continuing to grow, it should come as no surprise that the original meat snack would gain a foothold in the sector as well. Charcuterie is a term to describe a variety of dry-cured meats – salami, coppa, prosciutto, sopressata, just to name a few. Its origins go back to European master butchers, and the sight of a hanging prosciutto ham or a stick of salami still evokes visions of an artisan at work.