June 18th is International Picnic Day! Today we celebrate one of the greatest ways to enjoy the summer season—an outdoor picnic with friends, family, games and activities, and delicious food.
During the Victorian era, picnics were very important social occasions. They offered the rare opportunity for young men and women to spend time together in the great outdoors. They were also quite elaborate. A picnic for twenty people might feature cold salmon, lamb, veal, chicken, ham, pigeon pie, sandwiches, fruit, a selection of cheeses, and a variety of baked goods! The modern-day picnic is much less complicated. In fact, the phrase “it’s a picnic” means “it’s easy.”
To celebrate this occasion, invite your friends and family to a summer picnic. Find a suitable location at a local park or field, and sit back and enjoy an al fresco meal in the company of your loved ones. Happy International Picnic Day!
A Few Picnic Fun Facts:
- Ole Evinrude had the idea for the outboard motor while rowing a boat to a picnic.
- Italy’s favourite picnic day is Easter Monday. It 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. Yikes, you’d better move!
- In the year 2000, a 600-mile-long picnic took place in France to celebrate the first Bastille Day of the new millennium.
- The first table designed specifically for picnics (in a style similar to what we know today) appeared in the late 1800s.
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