Chris's Book Review:
Let's Go on a Picnic!
by: Chris Thomas

One thing to be said about growing up in the frozen tundra of the Northland is that you truly appreciate summer when it finally arrives. From mid May until the end of August our pasty white faces turn to a delightfully unhealthy shade of scarlet as we spend every waking hour outside desperately trying to repress memories of the cold bitter winter. And what do we do for sustenance as we are out hiking, biking, blading, playing, boating, fishing, or simply basking? We partake in that simple yet most wondrous of culinary institutions, the picnic. Yet, despite the wealth of possibilities, often times picnic food is a mere afterthought to the outdoor activities that it accompanies. People settle for uninspired sandwiches and chips or pick up a bucket of greasy chicken and soggy potato salad on their way to the park. This will simply not do! If you are going to truly enjoy the outdoors, you must make every aspect of your time a quality experience, including the food. With a little bit of preplanning and the help of one or both of the following books, you can make your picnic fare a fitting compliment to those precious summer days.

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In her book, Picnic, DeeDee Stovel takes a romantic, whimsical approach. Her book is divided into 29 seasonal menus for everything from backyard family celebrations to moonlight-on-the mountaintop redevous to breakfast-in-a-meadow moments. And while the connection of food to theme is often tenuous at best (does Rosemary Chicken Almondine really scream Tailgate Picnic?), the menus themselves hold together very well. The recipes are very simple and easy to make, yet produce quality, flavorful meals. This is high quality comfort food – pasta salads, honey wheat bread, gazpacho, chicken wings, cucu

mber sandwiches - done with elegance and style, ideally suited for a picnic. I was particularly taken by a grilled chicken wrap that employed a very simple satay marinade achieving a good balance of sweet, spicy, sour, and savory notes. The desserts also follow this idea of showcasing simple and high quality ingredients in offerings such as apple pie, almond rings, strawberry shortcake and a luscious raspberry brownie recipe.

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Sara Deseran’s offering, Picnics (fear not, their mundanely similar titles belie the creativity and uniqueness of each of these books!) is a more adventurous take, but with similarly yummy results. She takes traditional ideas about picnic foods and infuses them with unique ingredients, incorporating a variety of world cuisines in the process. Thus, her chapter on sandwiches includes a French Pan Bagnat, a Vietnamese chicken sandwich with carrot-daikon slaw and various ingredients like salsa verde with steak and pork with fennel and apple. Her entrees continue this thread of unique and flavorful recipes with offerings of Spanish-style tortilla with potatoes and spinach, tequila-infused spicy turkey burgers and a cold slow-roasted salmon with cucumber-cumin riata. I personally found her curried devilled eggs to be a delightful take on a tired picnic staple, and I loved the cold soba noodles and snap peas with sesame dressing. As with Stovel’s book, the desserts hold up to the fabulous foods that precede them. The nectarine tart is as gorgeous as it is delicious and the brown sugar blondies with pecans in this book are no exception.

Both books contain informative discussions on the logistics of having a picnic. Topics such as preparation, food safety, and packing – each book has helpful checklists. Deseran’s book also spends some time talking about menu planning, whereas Stovel already has done that work for you. But all in all they both do an excellent job of giving picnic fare the attention it deserves. So, go get your sunglasses, gob on some SPF 160, and get out there and enjoy the summer, just don’t forget the food!