Curiously, for a country in which the weather is notoriously unpredictable, the picnic occupies something of a special place in British culture. Whether it’s down to Famous Five stories awash with lashings of ginger beer, songs of teddy bears down in the woods or the appearance of picnics in literary works as different as Jane Austen’s Emma and Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, the picnic is as associated with the high days and holidays of summer as sledging and building snowmen are with the thrilling, chilly days of winter.
But picnics preoccupy beyond these shores too. The simple joy of eating outdoors with family and friends – which is all a picnic really is, once you strip away the gingham and wicker accessories – has universal appeal. And why wouldn’t it? Being close to the land from which our food comes strikes a chord deep within us, likely echoing back to when we had a much closer relationship with the land than most of us do now. Food – be it sandwiches spread thick with creamy butter or more elaborate dishes such as frittata or fruit tarts – just tastes better in the fresh air. Even if a picnic doesn’t adhere to the picture-postcard idyll – sand in the sarnies, rain demanding the hasty beating of a retreat indoors – it’s the effort that counts. Not the winning, but the taking part.
Picnic recipes
Supergreen and salmon frittata
Little cheddar and chive scones
A Kerrygold tale: pure and simple
The Kerrygold story is a simple one. “We work with small co-operative farms where small herds are free to graze on lush Irish meadows. It means Kerrygold cows are healthy and happy, free to roam outside. It’s these cows, and countless generations of dairy knowhow, that makes our butter taste so good. We always know where all of our milk comes from, which is why we promise to only produce the most delicious, golden dairy, pure and simple.”
