Roxane Gay on Her Delicious (and Beautiful) Charcuterie Boards

There is something immensely satisfying about a well-curated charcuterie board—cured meats, fruit, cheeses, perhaps an interesting mustard or jelly, cornichons and olives. Eating becomes something of a Choose Your Own Adventure, with so many possibilities. Charcuterie is my favorite way to feed people when I’m entertaining without serving a full meal. It offers something for everyone, a beautifully arranged display creates an elevated vibe, and it doesn’t require a lot of dishes or silverware or cleanup.

Sometimes I make my own charcuterie, going to Whole Foods and buying fancy, overpriced food in tiny, gorgeous packaging. But I live in Los Angeles, where there are all kinds of sexy little markets that sell charcuterie—and my favorite is the woman-owned Lady & Larder. L&L has an adorable little shop in Mar Vista, and when everything shut down because of COVID-19, the owners adapted quickly, turning the cheese shop into Lady Bodega. There you’ll find a community resource with cured meats and cheeses, interesting sandwiches and salads, and fresh produce from local farmers. You can pick up CSA produce boxes and pizza kits from another small, local business, or fresh eggs from a local farm and tamales and salsa. If you’re feeling fancy, consider a caviar kit with tiny little spoons. While there are standards, every week Lady & Larder also offers something new—white peaches, sunchokes, wild honey, black figs. When you pick up a box of food, it often includes a little something extra—some purple basil, a bunch of wildflowers, unique fruit bursting with flavor.

Where Lady & Larder really shines, though, is in its charcuterie boards, which are also available nationwide on its website. The boards are bright, plentiful, and beautifully composed: a small jar of honey in the middle, rows of folded fancy salami, Marcona almonds, pistachios, orange slices, blueberries, strawberries, hard and soft cheeses, olives. Yes, they are expensive ($195), but you get what you pay for. When my wife and I need a little escape from this never-ending social isolation, we order one of L&L’s mini boards (available only in LA) for a far more manageable $50, and she eats all the “fragrant” soft cheeses and dried fruit while I assume digestive responsibility for the fancy salami and plump blueberries and wedges of strawberry. The presentation and selection of meats and cheeses always surprise, and are a reminder that (as my mother loves to remind me) we eat with our eyes first.

On its Instagram, the Lady & Larder proprietors’ love of food is joyful and abundant. Every day there are beautiful pictures of the custom baskets and boards they make for clients, the produce they buy from the farmers market, breads from local bakeries, barbecue from a neighborhood restaurant. The focus is always on local, the bounty that is available to us right here in our community. The food is lovely, but the sense of community Lady & Larder creates, and its commitment to giving as much as it receives, are even lovelier. Whenever I visit the store or look at its Instagram, I am reminded that we can all find ways to strengthen the communities of which we are a part. We just have to find our way.