A Brief History of Charcuterie

Charcuterie was extremely popular in France during the Middle Ages, when the country acquired many varieties of meatloaves, sausages and other meat products that were prepared and sold in specialist shops known as charcuteries, owned and run by charcutiers, who needed the talent to season and cook delicious food and present it well to attract customers. They experimented with different meats and game, resulting in new foods for their customers. This created a lot of competition between the charcutiers. The popular products and processes spread from France to neighbouring regions, including Germany. Frankfurt in Germany became famous for the ‘Frankfurter’, a smoked sausage that evolved into the American hot dog, while Genoa in Italy became renowned for its salami.