As an avid lover of all things charcuterie, I always get excited when I see a new book about assembling boards. Unfortunately, this one fell really flat for me.

I love seeing new and innovative ways to serve and style food that give me inspiration. For me, this book came as false advertising - while yes, most of these were spreads, the idea of boards was a bit of a stretch. I would have loved more tips on food styling and arranging beautiful tablescapes. I also would have loved to see more pictures of how the recipes come together and create displays, not just how each dish looks plated next to others. Unfortunately, I think this is just a cookbook with some rather lovely recipes to serve together.

There are some recipes that look incredible, like the roasted Parmesan mushrooms, but overall I think this falls flat as a book about boards.

DELICIOUS. I was worried these recipes and boards were going to be too difficult, or use ingredients that are too expensive or not accessible, or just taste plain weird. Luckily, I was able to try quite a few of these board recipes, and I am very happy to report that these recipes are accessible, easy to complete, definitely delicious, and stunning to boot! These aren't groundbreaking board recipes necessarily, but they introduce comfortable classics in new ways, and give you small options to tweak to make it your own! This book was a fun read and I can't wait to try more of these boards!

I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Charcuterie lovers rejoice! If you are a fan of boards this is a book you NEED. Boards and Spreads is the perfect book to add a little flair to the way you eat. "Minimal effort, maximum flavour". This book takes boards to a whole new level. I have never thought about doing a board for breakfast and now I can't wait to try. What a brilliant idea. The photos in this book are beautiful, fresh and fun! Overall a very inspiring book!

4 delicious, charcuterie, boards-and-spreads stars ^^

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press for providing a digital ARC for review!

This was a refreshing "cookbook" chock full of delicious, mouth-watering boards and spreads. We all know what a "charcuterie board" looks like - but what if I told you that Yasmin Fahr has taken that to a whole new level? Boards and spreads are not just for cheese and meat folks! Not any more!

This book full of assorted boards and spreads has everything from brunch to dinner, and anything and everything in between. I found that every single idea in here was new and fun - I have plenty of family-style and party inspiration for my next get-together! I can understand the appeal of having everything be served in a spread-style layout.

Highly recommend this to anyone in your life that has a charcuterie obsession or is looking for a fun new way to present and serve meals!

I love a charcuterie board and this caught my eye. The photos were stunning and the recipes look incredible.
I especially love the chapter on care and cleaning of the board itself. I learned a lot.
This was such a well put together cook book with breakfast boards and many other themes.
Delicious & Beautiful.

This book speaks to my soul. As soon as I got my hands on it I devoured it as ferociously as I would the delicious meals on every single page. A huge congratulations to the author!

I love making "board" type meals to share and do it fairly often for snack time with my son, but our board is just a plate.... this book has definitely inspired me to want an actual serving board to up my game. The one thing I didn't love was that putting 3 different bowls of soup on a serving board doesnt really follow that same "shareable" serving board vibe. Do people usually share soups out of the same bowl? (No thank you!) I did like the inspiration it gave me to host some friends so I can do a platter and up my board game.

I do have a lovely book on platters and boards from Chronicle Books; however, I’m always tempted by the beautiful books put out by Clarkson Potter, so I was thrilled when this advance reader request came through. As always, the clean layout and beautiful full-color photos of the digital copy did not disappoint.

The purpose of the book was to define a low stress, low effort approach to entertaining that permits the host to focus on enjoying time with friends and family. Simplicity is the key word that keeps coming up again and again in the course of the introduction. It began with roughly 25 pages of introductory material, which primarily covered the selection and care for the physical board. Right off the bat, the book reinforced its casual emphasis with the recommendation to use you everyday wooden cutting board as the base, rather than waste precious kitchen space acquiring a myriad of slate, marble, and other decorative durable bases. Of course, if you’re like me and use plastic cutting boards, then you’d want to acquire a simple wooden board (made from a hard wood such as maple) to work with. Then again, since the emphasis is on the company and the food, the base doesn’t really matter much. The author also recommended a variety of pinch bowls, sugar bowls, four to six inch bowls, and eight inch bowls for dips, spreads, capers, olives, and anything else that can roll (or slide) off a board if uncontained.

The next 150 pages are recommendations for how to put different boards together, plus recipes for various components of these boards. The primary categories of boards are breakfast, bread, snacking, dinner, and picnic, while the additional recipes at the end are for accents, add ons, dips, spreads, and the like. The author’s Persian heritage was evident early on, as even the breakfast boards favored Middle Eastern ingredients, such as labneh, za’atar, harissa, halloumi, lime, and cumin. Although the author makes a blanket recommendation of Spice House, Diaspora Co., and Kaluystans as sources of spices, the book does not include a glossary or other explanation of the specific Middle Eastern/North African ingredients. She unapologetically uses these ingredients without explanation, comparison, or substitution, as if they were the most normal things in the American pantry. Which I think is awesome! There seem to be a disproportionate number of key components for the board that require broiling. Eggs, tomatoes, stone fruit, bacon, breads, pizzas, and more all seemed to be broiled for a few minutes on sheet pans before adding to the board. The majority of the “dinner boards” were more like fun “make your own” boards - sliders, tacos, chili, kebabs - and sheet pan suppers rather than a more substantial charcuterie board.

The pre-dinner aperitif recommendations were fairly disappointing as there were only roughly a half dozen of them, and they each seemed to contain sparkling wine, grapefruit liqueur, amaro, and/or vermouth. Granted they were supposed to be low alcohol sippers, but there are a myriad of ways to do that beyond just those four ingredients. Then again, it was good to see any suggestions and recipes of this sort in a book that focused on board dinners.

Overall, this book was definitely not a boring one - no cheese and charcuterie combinations to be found anywhere! I would really want to touch and feel the finished physical copy of this book before making the determination of whether to add it to my 100+ cookbook collection. It is definitely different from my Chronicle Books platters and boards book, as it has a more international variety of ingredients and a wider range of recipes in general. I believe this book to be far less prescriptive and far more adventurous than the one I currently own, which could fill a niche in my collection.

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. I have yet to attempt any recipes from this book, but I will update this review when I do.

This cookbook has some of the most breathtaking pictures I've ever seen! The aesthetic of Boards and Spreads is beautiful. This a must have in print version! The recipes are not conventional Charcuterie how to at all. I expected some cheese plates, but it was mostly snacks. My favorite recipes are the Blood Mary bar and the feta flatbread board. Every recipe seemed to have a picture, which I think is what makes a cookbook great. The only thing I wish this cookbook had was a section for people with a sweet tooth. Overall love images and will definitely obtain a copy when it is published!

The variety of recipes for the boards are excellent. The flexibility is nice as well as helpful for someone who might have allergies or not like certain ingredients. I made my first board within hours of starting the book. It was delicious and I can't wait to try all of them. I also enjoy that it is easily scalable if I only want to make it for myself or if I have friends over, much larger.

This book is amazing!! I loved the tips and ideas it's a game changer fir ne because I love this style of serving a group of family and friends. The pictures are mouth watering and make every recipe showcased look delicious. I haven't tried anything I didn't love or wouldn't serve again. This is a must have if you love to entertain and I highly recommend it.

Vibrant and fun photos with a new way to explore setting out food for guests, a special occasion or yourself. This cookbook explains how to set up a creative way to serve fun dips and boards for guests. Exploring breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas with recipes to expand the readers knowledge on mixing foods together. A new way to envision food with mixing and matching to creative a beautiful board and festive dips. Exploring new flavors and spices to see how they can expand your pallet. There is something for everyone in this cookbook and the latest design of serving food for your guests to create something new with your cooking.

I learned so many tips and tricks from this read! Beautifully laid out in an easy to read/view format, this book offered a lot of reading while also showing a lot of the tricks for those (like me) who visualize things better in photo. The garlicky green beans are a much try and my family loved the slider board. I also stepped up my taco game considerably with this read!! I certainly learned there's more to boards than just cheese and crackers! Highly recommend for anyone, but especially someone who likes to entertain and likes to do things a little differently!

💭 ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
This is right up my alley! I adore snack boards with a glass of wine on a hot summer afternoon. And this book will give you inspiration to extend that feeling to breakfast, lunch and dinner. Going beyond the classic cheese board. If you’re in for a night with friends or family, or watching a movie for date night get a bit more creative with these recipes. I definitely will!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🤓 ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Wine & Cheese boards
Summer snacks

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ:
𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳. 𝘎𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺, 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘰 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘺 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦; 𝘈𝘯𝘺-𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳-𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦-𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳-𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘌𝘨𝘨 𝘗𝘪𝘵𝘢 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥-𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘐𝘠 𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘵-𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘥. 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘥-𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘡𝘢’𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘖𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬-𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘸𝘰-𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘵𝘢 𝘋𝘪𝘱.

Just the title of this book caught my attention and once starting to review it I was absolutely impressed with the gorgeous pictures and the beautiful recipes. I loved how the sections were broken down by meal as well as season and really appreciated that there were certain recipes for in-season produce. I found a lot of the recipes had a Mediterranean diet feel to them and I am very excited to try some of them. This book very much makes me want to go outside and sit on my deck in the summertime. This is an absolutely beautiful book and I would very much like to purchase it once it is released.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to review this eARC

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarkson Potter Publishers for this eARC of Boards and Spreads by Yasmin Fahr! This was an absolutely gorgeous book. The author makes the idea of creating boards very accessible and workable for every single meal and occasion. The book is full of delicious recipes to mix and match to make a board all your own. These boards make great jumping off points to let your culinary creativity run wild. I also love that there was a section included on plating, i.e. what types of boards to use when and how to properly clean and care for your boards. The real star of the show throughout the book was the beautiful photography showcasing Fahr's boards. I'm hungry now!

I was 100% immediately sold on Yasmin Fahr’s Boards & Spreads when I saw the first section featured boards for breakfasts! Genius! The “Egg Pita Sandwich” breakfast board is gorgeous and something completely inspiring. I love that it is shown served on a small baking sheet! We bought a bunch of those earlier on in Covid to use as individual serving trays for backyard party guests. There are several pancake board opportunities, both savoury and sweet. Breakfasts can be stressful to prepare but if you have some of these board ideas in your entertaining toolbox, you’ll have more time for visiting and less frantic flapping around in the kitchen. Sign me up! Fahr’s "Bloody Mary board" is a stroke of brilliance and easy to adapt to different dietary needs (frankly, that’s the case for pretty much all of her recipes). It was great to see plenty of wonderfully varied open-faced sandwich board ideas for lunches. I worked as a catering cook in my university years and we made a whole lot of corporate luncheon trays back then. They absolutely paled in comparison to what Fahr is putting out in her book. The open-faced sandwich is a great way to lighten up a working lunch meal that can otherwise feel a little too heavy with double doses of thick bread. There’s a snacking boards and trays section here as well and it’s the highlight of the book, for sure. The "Crispy Proscuitto Caprese" had me dreaming of Italy.

What’s wonderful about the concept of trays and boards for food preparation, aside from how beautiful they are and easy to put together, is that they can be most often made ahead of time. Fahr's vegetable board section has gorgeous photos of make-ahead platters that look wildly artistic but take just a bit of easy planning and prep. She’s all for letting the in-season produce shine but there’s also a section for fall and winter veggies called the “Fall-Winter Trio Platter” featuring a trio of dishes (charred carrots on labneh, roasted broccolini, pan-roasted mushrooms, pita, and hummus) Roasted broccolini and charred carrots are the stars of this platter in my opinion and are such an easy but visually appealing food to snack on. Definitely keeping that recipe in my book club party tray arsenal!

Dinner boards are a great way to trick kids into trying food they might not normally consider. Again, boards can be just so much more visually stimulating. Fahr has a taco dinner board that would actually be an excellent meal to have a child help in preparing. She also has a “winner winner chicken dinner” board, and the tray meal of my dreams, a “Big Pot of Mussels on a Board”. I’ve always been weirdly mildly fearful of preparing mussels but her recipe makes it look so easy! And who can pass up a coconut curry broth for dipping their bread into once the mussels are consumed? Definitely not me or my husband. There’s a “Centerpiece Salmon” recipe in the dinner section that I would argue could work well as a breakfast/brunch dish as well.

Of course, boards are perfect serving vessels for outdoor dining and Fahr has a whole section on that - she even supplies some tasty cocktail recipes. If you’ve not ever tried an Amaro Spritz, do yourself a favour and pick up some Amaro. It’s the perfect warm spring or summer evening patio drink.

The most useful part of this book is the sheer volume of recipes for easy-to-make ahead and also transportable salads and spreads. A good board isn’t just a bunch of single ingredients carefully or artfully placed on a platter - you need myriad dips, spreads, you know - the actual jewelry of the board! There’s a recipe for an “herby green sauce” that is a great chance for the home gardener to showcase their parsley, jalapeños, and other home-grown greens. This is one of those sauces that doesn’t take any time at all to prepare but it shows whomever you’re feeding it to that you put in some effort. Lastly, I ate the “2-Minute Feta Dip” for lunch and now I never have to worry about what to do with leftover feta again. This is a great dip to just keep in the fridge for those 4 pm hunger pangs.

I truly am glad I asked to review this book. I am not exaggerating when I say there is not a single recipe in here that I would not try. I’m thrilled to have this advance copy and will most certainly pick up the hard copy when it’s released.

I have become quite addicted to the charcuterie boards but a lot of the books are focused on party size boards. I really enjoyed this book because it shows you how to arrange a variety of foods on easy to serve boards or platters and shows you how to scale up or down depending on how many people will be gathering. Beautifully photographed.

Boards and Spreads by Yasmin Fahr is a cookbook that goes beyond the traditional meat and cheese charcuterie board. There were over 65 unique and well organized recipes that were a great inspiration for a wide range of meals including appetizers, snacks, dinner and even breakfast. The accompanying photos were gorgeous but my only complaint about the book overall is that there were not enough photos to go with the recipes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarkson Potter/ Ten Speed Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a bit disappointing, some nice recipes but no reason to use a board. Did not go in to arrangements and pairings