At breakfast with friends on Saturday at the marvelous Clock Tower Bistro in Strathroy, Ont. an interesting question came up.

What, exactly, is charcuterie?

One of the breakfast options, (which I had on a previous visit) is a yummy charcuterie platter that includes The Whole Pig cured meats, cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, fruit and toast.

I’ve always called that kind of thing an antipasto platter, but the question left me wondering about the real definition of charcuterie.

It turns out charcuterie – literally cold, cooked meats (mainly pork) – is only a tiny portion of that particular entree, but all the recommendations I found for charcuterie platters include cheeses, breads, pickled vegetables and honey or jams as well.

And while we’re on the subject, there’s another good term to know that’s close to my heart – salumi – Italian-style cured meats like prosciutto, mortadella, salami and soppressata, which my folks still make annually.

So now that we’ve learned some new terms, what’s next? I don’t know, but it’s all delicious.