Picnics of the Past

 

Picnics have been around for a LONG time. Meals eaten out-of-doors could be very simple or very elaborate. Some of those wicker baskets contained enough food for a small army. Nobody went home hungry. You’d travel to a nice pastoral setting, perhaps by a stream, making sure there were shade trees to eat under. You’d spread your blanket on the ground and dig in. After stuffing yourself silly, you might be inclined to take a little nap while the children played.

 

There might be a cold collation, which was simply bread, cheese and several types of meat. There might be cold game pie in aspic, or small hand-held meat pies. All sorts of nuts and fruits would be in the basket as well. Usually included were hardboiled eggs, tarts, cookies and fairy bread. Wine, cider and lemonade would quench your thirst.

 

Box socials were popular in the early 1900s in the US, Canada and the UK. In the US particularly, a woman would take a box and fill it with a lunch or dinner for two. She’d decorate it, and it would be auctioned off to the men. The highest bidder for a box would then get to eat the food with the lady who had fixed it. Sometimes the boxes would be decorated with a special color of ribbon or some token so the lady’s favorite would know to bid on that box.

 

Typical box social meal:

Fried chicken

Cornbread and honey

Hardboiled eggs

Pickles

Joe Froggers (a type of molasses cookie)

Bottles of sarsaparilla

 

My favorite picnic food if there is a grill available are hotdogs or hamburgers with the extras like cheese, potato chips, black olives and dill pickle slices.

If there is no grill, then it’s sandwiches with the above extras.

And of course there is the cooler with beer and soda.

 

What do YOU take on picnics?