After literally years of contemplating this concept, I finally made a Very Hungry Caterpillar charcuterie board for my son’s 1st birthday party, and it came out better than I could have imagined.
This was such an incredible hit both at the party and beyond, online, that– much like my Moana n’ Marshmallows party and our epic K-Pop Demon Hunters birthday bash— I felt compelled to publish the idea.
You guys kept asking, so here’s how I did it. Bookmark this for your next little kid party– or your adult hosting mood board!
Here’s my Very Hungry Caterpillar Charcuterie Board, based on Eric Carle’s beloved 1969 children’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar :
***
It’s a sweet and salty board that is a direct translation of the book– it features every food, to scale, that the very hungry caterpillar eats, and presented in the same order as the book: one apple, two pears, three plums, etc.
The only foods I left out were the cherry pie and the lollipop. I left out the cherry pie because I know that if I poked a hole in even a mini pie slice, the filling would run and flood the platter. We also left out lollipops because there’s no way to poke a hole in vintage, flat-spiral lollipop without shattering the candy.
(Technically, in the book the very hungry caterpillar eats: one apple, two pears, three plums, four strawberries, five oranges, one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon.)
On the last day, the hungry caterpillar munches his way through one nice green leaf, which I symbolized here with baby spinach leaves, dotted with holes to look as if the caterpillar munched his way through.
How To Make The Holes
The key to this Very Hungry Caterpillar charcuterie is that the food is a direct reference to what’s in the book– and each item has clear, clean holes poked through the middle, to symbolize the bites that the very hungry caterpillar takes out of each item.
Obviously, you want to do this in a sterile, kitchen-grade way– so you’ll need a metal straw! (Ideally, one large metal straw and one thinner metal straw from a set like this. You can use the thinner straw to poke the residual food out of the bigger straw once it gets filled up from hole-punching. You can also use a straw cleaner like the one included in this metal straw set to remove food buildup– but you can only do that if it’s clean/unused otherwise it’s not food safety compliant for serving to a crowd.)
I poked the holes in all foods with a set of sterile metal straws, which made delightful “charcuterie confetti” from the tiny bits of food left in the straw.
Where relevant, I looked at the book to see how and where the hole was poked in each respective food item. Most of the time, it’s right through the middle– which is good, because centering your holes makes them easier to make and doesn’t compromise the structural integrity of something like a fragile piece of chocolate cake.
I used a smaller straw to clear out the larger straw that I used to poke the holes, and I saved the resulting “charcuterie confetti” to feed to my one-year-old– it was festive, fun, and the perfect safe size for his tooth-less mouth.
Saving the “Charcuterie confetti” from the inside of the straw! Babies love to eat it:
Like so:
Plating – The Order Matters
Ultimately, I used a rimmed, handled sheet pan from Our Place as the serving tray, because I already had it.
You need something with a lip when doing a densely-patterned flat-lay like this, so you could even use a cookie sheet or a nice rimmed cutting board– use what you have!
I laid everything out in rows with the fruit in the same order that The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats it in. I changed the order of the savory foods only when the flavors didn’t pair well together.
For example, in the book, the ice cream cone is next to a pickle– so I switched the order and put mini corn muffins next to the ice cream cone to transition the flavors from sweet to savory.
Next to the corn muffins, I put the cheese, then the salami and sausage and THEN the pickle, so the board is effectively a gradient from sweet to savory. (Slight variation from the order in the book, which you can see below.)
Mindful AdaptationS From The Book
I used mini corn muffins to symbolize Eric Carle’s notably frosting-less cupcake, which you see in the book above– it looks exactly the same, but tastes better next to the cheese and charcuterie meats, so it was a perfect flavor dupe. This way, we could include a faithful translation of foods from the book, while still maintaining flavor integrity.
For the ice cream cone, I used Muddy Bites mini waffle cone snacks, which my husband happened to impulse-buy from Whole Foods around the time I was ideating this concept. They are a perfect sweet bite for a board like this, and allowed me to get around the temperature dilemma that would preclude using real ice cream.
I lined the bottom of the pan with baby spinach to tie everything together and cohere the concept. The spinach is “the leaf” that the Very Hungry Caterpillar eats in his final transition to cocoon stage, and it’s instantly recognizable as a lynchpin of the story. I was sure to poke a few holes in each leaf, as it appears in the book.
I repeat: Don’t attempt to do a charcuterie board like this without some hole-y greens! Seriously. They really add to the whimsy, and are a refreshing option for people who want to layer some spinach with their cheese and salami to make a nice bite. A bed of greens elevates the board.
When I do food concepts for parties, moreover, I always make sure each element tastes good and makes sense to eat together, in addition to being whimsical– that’s what elevates a fun idea to an iconic food memory.
How To Prep Ahead
The best way to prepare this is to wash/prep/cut and poke holes in all foods 1 day before your event, and be sure to splash the apples and pears with some lemon juice before storing, so they don’t oxidize.
Everything else, like oranges and pickles and cheese, can just be hole-poked with a metal straw and stored in the fridge overnight.
The day of your event, lay everything out in rows, on a single tray, before serving. Pat dry all fruit before plating, to keep juice from running. I recommend placing parchment paper underneath the food, as well.
And, if an item is too messy or can’t fit on a single tray– like my watermelon slices, above– then you can present those in a bowl to the side, like below. You could also serve everything in separate bowls next to each other and present on the book next to the containers on the table. A flat-lay design is really visually concise, but separate containers work, too!
Be Sure To Present Food With The Book!
Finally, be sure to present your charcuterie with The Very Hungry Caterpillar book so that people get the reference. It adds to the charm and cues immediate visual understanding.
Kids and adults who know the book love being able to reference it, and many parent-child duos at our party had fun “finding the foods” from the book on the tray right next to it. As a result, choosing what to put on a plate became a fun little interactive experience.
You could also print out or make a cute sign, like the one I printed for our table, below. (It says, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar was here…”) to underscore the concept. As long as everything has a clean hole poked through the center, folks who know the book will get the reference! (And they will love it!)
Enjoy!
Reminder: You can follow me on Instagram at @MollyBeauchemin for more ideas like this. Cheers!
***
Related: This easy DIY Garden Focaccia is super adorable! Makes your bread look like a painting.
Leave a Reply