Storybook Picnics
Finding picnic menu inspiration in literature
When I was a child, we went on a lot of picnics. Being one of four children meant that taking everyone out to eat, every weekend, was a budget buster, so picnicking we would go.
On the morning of the picnic, we would wake to the smell of a box of frozen, Banquet Fried Chicken roasting in the oven. Once it was done, it was put into a cooler with cheddar cheese and olives. My mom would always pack the cheese on top of the warm chicken, so it was slightly melted by the time we arrived at our picnic destination. I loved to take a bite of that soft cheese and crispy fried chicken together. It must have been a breeding ground for salmonella in that cooler, what with the warm chicken, but it was the 1970s-1980s and food handling was managed differently back then. I’m alive to tell the story so there’s that.
There was usually a bag of chips thrown into a bag and a large, green and white Coleman drink cooler filled with Crystal Light Iced Tea. Somewhere along our journey, we would stop at a fruit stand and get whatever was in season, and homemade fudge or wands of fruit-flavored licorices, wrapped in cellophane.
Once I grew up picnics turned into romantic affairs. My husband and I had many romantic picnics on the grounds of California wineries in Sonoma, Napa, and Paso Robles. A favorite was always Buttonwood Winery, where the picnic tables were under large, old peach trees, surrounded by vineyards. We ate fancy cheeses, salamis, crackers and drank bottles of wine purchased in the tasting room. We were surrounded by the smell of ripening peaches and buzzing bees. All of us drowsy from the heat.
During a trip to Paso Robles, we went to Eberle Winery where we were taken to a deck in the middle of the vineyards, and had a gourmet picnic basket delivered to us there. It was one of those romantic moments that become crystallized in the amber of your marriage.
My daughter came along and, as an only child, our budget had room for restaurant stops, but I still packed a picnic so we could stop for lunch on our day trips and vacations. At the very least, we had “car snacks” which consisted of tiny wheels of cheese, crackers, and grapes to ward off anyone crossing over into a hangry mood.
My daughter would sit in the back of the car, the small cooler next to her on the seat. Her tiny, chubby hand resting on the top, waiting until she thought a reasonable amount of time went by before she would declare she was hungry and needed a snack. This was usually within twenty minutes of us pulling out of our driveway, but we always acquiesced and were rewarded with mostly pleasant car trips.
When we stopped for lunch, we ate homemade, cold calzones filled with mozzarella cheese and turkey pepperoni, sun-dried tomato pasta salad, oatmeal-pecan cookies, and fruit.
So yes, picnics hold a special place in my heart. So much so, that I tend to collect descriptions of picnics from books. I keep the picnic quotes in my kitchen journal and, whenever we are going to go on a picnic, I turn to them for inspiration. Here are a few of my favorites:
From The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, Calpurnia’s packing list for a day out exploring includes,
“My notebook, collecting jars, a cheese sandwich, a corked bottle of lemonade, and a waxed paper twist of pecans.”
(Honestly, am I the only one who gets chills of excitement from the idea of “waxed paper twists of pecans”? Put anything in a waxed paper twist and I’m there.)
Or how about Betty MacDonald’s picnic in The Egg and I?
“I packed a lunch of fried chicken, stuffed eggs, tomatoes from the garden, and homemade bread. We stopped at a farm on the way and bought a gallon of ice-cold buttermilk for 10c and a market basket of sun-ripened peaches for 25c.”
Stuffed eggs and buttermilk won’t end up on my list due to my intense fear of giving my picnic guests food poisoning (see above) but I’m there for friend chicken and tomatoes from the garden.
There are so many more picnic quotes to share with you, but I don’t want to ruin the fun of finding picnics in your own reading. Once you start looking, you can’t help but find picnic ideas in books. If you are new to this, look in a children’s classics-I find they are packed with picnic ideas, then write them down and refer back to them the next time you find yourself in the mood for a picnic.
Don’t forget to share your favorite picnic menus in the comments.
Read More:
These books have great descriptions of picnics:
The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
These are my favorite picnic cookbooks:
A Year of Picnics by Ashley English
Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer by
You are so good at conjuring up memories. My first date with a particular boy in highschool involved him packing a picnic breakfast and driving us up to Mt. Rainier to see the sunrise. Still one of the most romantic picnics I've ever been on...You've given me inspiration to up my game from the usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich picnic fare. I think I need to reread The Secret Garden to see what was in their basket....PS -- we need that recipe for the homemade calzones!
Hahahaha "It must have been a breeding ground for salmonella in that cooler, what with the warm chicken, but it was the 1970s-1980s and food handling was managed differently back then. I’m alive to tell the story so there’s that." - girl, tell it. We used to go on picnics when I was a kid too, my parents didn't have much money so we certainly didn't go out to eat, at most we might have stopped for ice cream on a Sunday drive.
We had a similar cooler/ jug! We wouldn't have had Crystal Light, more likely Kool-Aid or that powdered iced tea that came in a big blue can. We would have had homemade cookies, apples, and sandwiches, probably a big bag of chips too. Or a box of chips - Old Dutch came in boxes then. Bologna sandwiches, probably, with pickles!