Tomorrow is~International Picnic Day (June 18)

Wikipedia describes a picnic as - "a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors, ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view, and usually in summer. They are often family oriented but can also be an intimate occasion between two people, or a large get-together such as company or church picnics. Some picnics are a potluck, an entertainment at which each person contributes some dish to a common table for all to share." - Sounds about right to me.

If you go to Wikipedia you'll learn that the word pique-nique first appeared in the 1692 edition of Origines de la Langue Francaise de Menage. The term was used to describe a group of people dining in a restaurant who brought their own wine. You'll also learn that the word picnic may or may not take it's origin from the verb piquer which means 'pick' or 'peck' with the ryming nique meaning "thing of little importance". And finally, you'll learn that picnics were taking place after the French Revolution in 1789, when royal parks became open to the public for the first time, and that in the 19th century, a fashionable group of Londoners formed the 'Picnic Society', where they met at the Pantheon on Oxford Street and each member was expected to provide a share of the entertainment and of the refreshments with no one particular host.

The first picnic I remember reading about was an intimate gathering of 5000 along the shores of the sea, when Jesus fed the multitude with five loaves of bread and two fishes.

 I can only imagine that picnics have been taking place since the dawn of time. As long as there has been the existence of food and the great outdoors. Who could resist, on a lovely summer day, going to a beautiful place of nature and enjoying a delicious feast?

So, maybe you could take off early from work tomorrow, grab a cozy blanket, a basket of yummies, your sweetheart or your closest group of  5, 10, or 5000 friends and go have an enjoyable pic-a-nic at the park.

Go to picnicrecipesandgames.com to find tons of recipes and ideas for planning your next picnic.