M. Suzanne Terry

I participated in Dewey’s Readathon this weekend. Well, sort of participated. I stretched it out into three days because I had extra plans. Also, my month has to go A LOT more smoothly than this one has for me to have the stamina for a 24-hour readathon. So I was gentle with myself but still got a lot of good reading time in.

My go-to food when I’m hunkering down for a long reading weekend (whether in conjunction with an online event or on my own) is a series of snack plates that fall under the category of charcuterie. It doesn’t take much prep time. It also can typically be eaten with one hand, leaving the other free for smudge-less page-turning.

I don’t just resort to this type of meal when I’m reading, though. It’s a frequent staple at my place. This habit started long ago.

One of my favorite weekday lunches when I was little was a plate full of cheddar cheese chunks, Vienna sausages, raw veggies such as celery or carrot sticks, and crackers (typically saltines, but every once in a while we got fancy with those buttery Club crackers). Looking back, it’s clear that this was one of Mom’s favorite lunches for us, too, because we had it a lot. She was usually in the middle of a cleaning project or getting ready for afternoon errands or planning dinner, so it made sense to find something quick to put on the table. As a bonus, we could feed it to ourselves with relatively little potential mess.

My charcuterie tastes have matured somewhat (I now spring for the salami or prosciutto, and there may not be crackers or bread at all involved), but it’s still one of my favorite meals. It’s easy, simple, and delicious.

And it always reminds me of my childhood.

I’m writing about the foods that remind me of home this month.