Welcome back to our series sharing Food Holidays: June 18th, 2021 with you. Take a look at today’s Holiday and let me know if you would like to celebrate it or not.
Lily my niece has been wanting to do a Family Picnic and if David had been off tonight would have been the perfect evening. David isn’t and if we don’t go to my brothers next Thursday I think I will see if her parents would let me have her and Jason and I will take them on a Picnic with Charlie.
It’s often claimed that life is no picnic – but today it is! International Picnic Day is a chance to eat outside with friends or family.
Placed conveniently in the middle of June, for many people this means that the weather should be fine and the Sun shining (at least in the northern hemisphere).
Even if the weather doesn’t want to cooperate, an inside picnic can be a great substitute. Just spread a blanket out on the floor and enjoy a meal!
So go get your picnic lunch or dinner heck even breakfast will work ready and get started celebrating International Picnic Day.
History of International Picnic Day
The word “picnic” probably gets its origins from the French language, specifically from the word “pique-nique”. It is believed that this type of informal outdoor meal became a popular pastime in France after the French Revolution in the mid-1800s when it was possible again to get out into the country’s royal parks. However, even if the Picnic began in France, it has become a lovely activity that has spread all over the world.
As fans of Jane Austen novels will know, 19th-century picnics in England became elaborate social occasions, with menus featuring a wide range of cold meats and pies that took days to prepare.
Over the years, picnics have sometimes come to represent the gathering of the common people in political protest. One of the more famous of these was the History of Pan-European Picnic that took place in the Summer of 1989 at the border of Austria and Hungary. This was part of many protests against communism that year that led to the fall of the Iron Curtain.
More recently, in 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records made note of the record for the largest picnic in the world which took place with more than 20,000 people in Lisbon, Portugal.
Today’s picnics might be a bit more casual, sometimes just a few pieces of bread and cheese thrown into a paper bag and eaten on a park bench. A picnic can be centered around just about anything we want it to be, including games and other outdoor activities.
How to Celebrate International Picnic Day
Those who want to get in on the fun can find plenty of opportunities to celebrate this enjoyable day and consider these creative ways of celebrating Picnic Day or come up with a list of your own:
Join a Picnic Day Event
Charity events, school picnics and all kinds of group meals are organized to mark this Holiday. Check with a community board or website to see if any picnics are planned locally.
Look particularly at local parks or Museums that often plan these types of events. If they’re having one nearby, join in. If not–go ahead and organize a Picnic.
Have a Personal Picnic for Lunch or Dinner
A great way to celebrate International Picnic Day is to bike, walk or hike to a nearby beauty spot, and take Sandwiches and Hard-boiled eggs and enjoy an al fresco lunch. Those who are at work for the day can just take their normal lunch hour to head out to a patch of grass or park nearby.
Other ideas for piling foods into a picnic basket include:
- Sandwiches. Perhaps the perfect picnic food,are Sandwiches. Just pile Meat, Cheese, and Vegetables on a couple of pieces of Bread. Add a few condiments, such as Mustard or Mayonnaise, and it’s a great start for a picnic.
- Fruit. Fruits come with their own natural packaging, making them the ideal food for a picnic. Grab Apples, Oranges, Bananas, or a giant Watermelon to enjoy outside.
- Side Dishes. Salads, Potato Chips, or a tray filled with Veggies will make a picnic super tasty!
- Dessert and a nice bottle of Wine
Five Food Finds about Picnics:
- Ole Evinrude had the idea for the outboard motor while rowing a boat to a picnic.
- Italy’s favourite picnic day is Easter Monday which is called “Angel’s Monday” or Pasquetta (“Little Easter”).
- After an ant has visited your picinc, it lays down a scent as it returns to the nest for the other ants to follow!
- In the year 2000, a 600-mile-long picnic took place in France to celebrate the first Bastille Day of the new millennium. Could you imgaine being at a picnic this long?
- The first table designed specifically for picnics (in a style similar to what we know today) appeared in the late 1800s
Also, its National Cheesemakers Day
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
