Christmas Charcuterie Board: Shepherd’s Dinner

When I first heard of a shep­herds din­ner I imme­di­ate­ly knew I want­ed to make it a new tra­di­tion the Christ­mas sea­son. Tru­ly it is just a Christ­mas char­cu­terie board with an empha­sis on nat­ur­al and whole­some foods. No frills.

What is a Shepherd’s Dinner?

A shep­herd’s din­ner is often a sim­ple, hearty meal reflect­ing the rus­tic and resource­ful lifestyle of those tend­ing to flocks in the coun­try­side. The focus is on sat­is­fy­ing, nour­ish­ing foods made from ingre­di­ents that are local­ly avail­able and easy to pre­pare after a long day in the fields.

Foods for a Christmas Charcuterie Board

• Bread and/or crackers
• Hon­ey
• But­ter
• Grapes
• Cheese assort­ment, a vari­ety if hard and soft cheeses sliced in wedges, rounds or thin slices
• Nuts
• Pro­sciut­to
• Sala­mi
• Fresh herbs
• Olives

So if it’s just a Christ­mas char­cu­terie board why call it a Shep­herd’s din­ner? My goal for the sea­son was to make an inten­tion­al effort to slow down and focus on the impor­tance of the sea­son. Shep­herds were often viewed as hum­ble and low­er-sta­tus fig­ures in soci­ety at the time of Jesus birth. Their inclu­sion in the sto­ry high­lights the theme that Jesus came for all peo­ple, espe­cial­ly those on the mar­gins. By choos­ing the shep­herds, God shows that the mes­sage of Christ’s birth is not reserved for the pow­er­ful or wealthy but is acces­si­ble to every­one, regard­less of sta­tus or wealth.

Jesus’ birth was marked by humility—He was born in a sta­ble, laid in a manger, and vis­it­ed by hum­ble shep­herds. Slow­ing down dur­ing the Christ­mas sea­son helps us to embrace the same humil­i­ty that Jesus embodied. 

A Shep­herd’s din­ner encour­ages the focus on sim­ple, mean­ing­ful moments rather than get­ting caught up in the fren­zy of con­sump­tion and com­pe­ti­tion. After all, sim­pli­fy­ing the sea­son and mak­ing room for our Sav­ior is what it’s all about.

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