August 7, 2019 • 34 mins
Picnics haven’t always been casual affairs – they haven’t even always been held outdoors. Anney and Lauren explore the twisting history of picnicking and picnic baskets (aka hampers).
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Below, and welcome to save our production of I Heart
Radio and Stuff Media. I'm Annis and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum,
and today we're talking about picnics. Yes, and I would
like to start a story with a picnic basket, um,
because this idea has been on my mind since I
went to a weird Al concert a couple of weeks ago.
And this was courtesy of our coworker and friend Alex Williams,
(00:29):
which if you had checked out his new show that
I see might produce Ephemeral, you totally should. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's super excellent. It is. But anyway, he gave me
some free tickets to the show because he had some
family members cancel um and it was outdoors on the
grass and you could bring in your own food and drink.
And the people in front of us had our attention
the whole time because they had this picnic basket that
(00:51):
blew our mind and everybody around us. We were not
the only ones that were staring at this picnic basket
because it was like steampunk and had these leather straps
on the inside for plates and utensils champagne flutes, but
they didn't have the bottoms and there was this thing
you could put them in in the picnic basket, but
there's this almost it had a fan, a fan inside
(01:18):
blowing to keep it. That's wild. I mean, in Atlanta
in the summer picnic basket with a fan. Dang, my mind,
you are impressed. I was very impressed. And at one point,
because I was kind of having a side conversation about
it with my friend on the right, at one point
(01:39):
I turned to Alex and I overheard him and his
wife and they were talking about it was awesome anyway.
Also in Eastern Egg, we had to make a promotional
video once this very show, and there's a scene towards
the end where we're having a picnic with several of
our past topics like pineapple fried chicken. Yeah, all of
(02:00):
these food items from past episodes that we had done exactly.
And it was in Piedmont Park and they were filming
Avengers Infinity War right next to us, and they can't
like technically kick us out, but I could tell they
were annoying. They were getting real ready to do it. Yeah,
they were like I think that we had to time
our shots very carefully because they kept like like trouncing
(02:23):
across the background with all of these giant like rig
works that they were getting ready to set up. So
if we had gotten there like an hour later, I
don't think we could have done it. Yeah, there was
some guy in a golf cart who was just driving around,
clearly waiting to tell us you gotta get here. It
was the scene in the beginning where Doctor Strange comes
(02:44):
in and it's like, yo, Tony Stark, we got a
big problem here. Anyway, when I was thinking about this,
I have had some successful picnics in my day, and
they mostly are are we're at concerts or shows once
and from the Eiffel Tower. But I'm usually more of
a packed lunch or a cooler situation. Yeah. Yeah, I
(03:05):
usually have a lot of snacks with me. A picnic
is not something that I would organize on my own
because I'm like, oh man, that's a lot. But um,
but but I've got I've gone to a few. I
had a really excellent friends going away picnic. I mean,
I'm sad that she went away, but I'm glad that
we got to have a nice picnic about it. Um.
I one of my most successful dates that turned into
one of my least successful dates. At the end of
(03:27):
the evening started with a picnic. Oh well, I'm very
curious about that. I'll ask you later. But this all
brings us to our question picnics. What are they? Well,
sometimes you take food outside and you eat it there
(03:49):
instead of eating it inside. It's a very simple explanation.
Usually the ones that have simple explanations. It's like in
the word that's not in the word here, no, no,
and I I can make it a little bit more
complicated for you if you want perfect sure. Um. Yeah,
picnic is a meal prepared to be taken and served outdoors,
often all pre cooked and preassembled so that you don't
(04:11):
have to do any work other than unpacking once you
reach your destination. Um is sometimes brought to parks that
have tables or even grills, or even you bring your
own grill wild um sometimes uh brought to be served
out on blankets on the grass, often packed up in
special basket sets or coolers or something like that. On
a picnic, you might play lawn games, or or you
(04:32):
might be on a picnic in order to watch a
sporting or art event of some kind, or or you
might bring a picnic lunch with you as you're going
Berry picking or on a hike in the woods or
something like that. Uh. Fun times. In Europe, I think
it seems like the word picnic is applied to outdoor
events of many kinds. Of note, there's an annual science
(04:53):
picnic in Poland. It's been running since and um it
doesn't seem to necessarily be food related, but rather just
like a like a big public science festival thrown by
the National Public Radio of Poland and by the Copernicus
Science Center. That sounds fun. I know, I want to
go to this thing now. Yeah, put it on our
(05:14):
field ship list. Some popular picnic options in the US
are fried chicken, potato, salad, watermelon or other fruit, lemonade, beer,
hot dogs, pie, doubled eggs, sandwiches, wine, cheese, bread, cold cuts,
cut fruit, cut vegetables, chips, dips, handheld baked goods, chicken salad,
tuna salad. M Yeah, and there are all kinds of
(05:35):
traditions around the world. I would love to hear some
of y'alls from wherever it is that you hail from. Um. Yeah,
on Geary and pickles in Japan, warm weather, Christmas picnics
in Argentina, your mate in Brazil Scotch Eggs in Britain,
hot Tea in New Zealand. Apparently picnicking is a super
big deal in Turkey and there are thousands of parks
(05:55):
like kind of specifically for picnics throughout the country. Oh yes,
please is right in about that. Yeah, and if we
do have some picnic numbers. Okay, So the world's largest
picnic basket is. It's a building that's shaped like a basket.
It is seven stories tall. It's over two feet wide,
that's about sixty um And yeah, it's made to look
(06:18):
like a big woven basket like gaps in the weaving
are the windows. It does have two giant handles on
the roof. Yeah. It was built as the headquarters of
the basket making company Lunga Burger. Yeah. Cost thirty two
million dollars to build it. Yeah, I mean, and it
(06:39):
looks like they're iconic picnic basket. It even has like
the little brass plate on the top of it. Anyway. Yeah,
the company has since fallen on rough times and abandoned
the building. It's abandoned. Uh yeah, I think that. I
think as a sten no one was in it. Um,
this is rife for a horror movie. Oh my gosh,
(07:02):
I have got to give this more thought. Leader. There's
abandoned picnic basket building. Yeah, that I could shoot a
horror movie. Yeah. At the time, I think it had
like maybe reverted to um to to the local government
ownership UM, and was possibly for sale for as little
as like six thousand dollars. We can do this, Lawrence. Yeah,
(07:26):
I know, I get it, Kickstarter. We have a picnic
building all to ourselves. Soon enough, all right, I need
this horror movie to involve giant ants for sure. Yes, okay, okay,
I need to focus. UM. Some places on our very
own belt line offer baskets with food for the park.
UM for Pemont Park in the belt line is case
(07:47):
you don't know, it's sort of like a converted railway walkway. Yeah, yeah,
it's it's it's for um, humans to move across. So
that's not very descriptive. It's it's for walkers and bike riders,
and it's like the high Line in New York if
you've been to that share and yeah, no, this is
a this is a whole business. In many places around
around the world. UM. Lots of restaurants and caterers will
(08:09):
offer UM uh sometimes literal baskets they will pack up
for you, ranging from simple sandwiches to whole spreads with
like steak and trim cocktail and whatever. It is. What
a fancy picnic. I know in the UK National Picnic
Week is in June. Um, and there are all kinds
of holidays around the world celebrated with picnics. The one
that's coming to mind is da del Sport, those where, um,
(08:31):
you would frequently go with your family to have a
kind of little picnic in the cemetery where you have
family plots. But yeah, that's that's the one that's coming
to mind. Lots more, lots more. Oh yes, and I
wrote picnic baskets, picnic baskets. Um, it's a mystery to
all of us. But I think it just to reiterate
(08:51):
how impressed I am. I didn't know there was this
whole world of, um, picnic baskets that are very They're
much more than I thought they were, I guess, is
what I'm trying to say. They're more than just a basket.
Oh yeah, yeah, and in all kinds of there's a
there's a whole industry of designing these baskets and blankets
(09:11):
and yeah, Yeah. Actually, um, one of our past parent
companies when they bought us, gave us a picnic blanket
that folds folds up and you can kind of el
grow it together into the tiny little package. Had it. Yeah,
I'm still confused by that, like introductory gift but too
(09:32):
but I have used it, so gosh, I don't think
I wound up taking on her. If I did, it
is in a box somewhere that is not my home. Um,
well as lass a lack. There's a surprising amount of picnic.
Oh my goodness, there is, um. And we will get
(09:52):
into that as soon as we get back from a
quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you. And before we get
too deep into the history, we really have to talk
about where the word comes from. Yes. Yes, because a
(10:13):
lot of the Internet will tell you that it has
a racist background. Yeah, that almost of your first results
will be pages looking into whether or not it is
racist or that practices racist. Yes. And this is partially
a misunderstanding that stems from a rumor that the word
picnic comes from murders and lynchings of black people in
(10:33):
America during the eighteen and nineteen hundreds um that it
originally meant to pick an n word to murder. Right, Um,
it does not, it does not. Historians agree that the
word derives from a mid sixteen hundreds of French word picnic,
referring to essentially food ease or snobs who bought their
own wine when going out. The peak most likely referred
(10:58):
to either picking at your own or just pick um,
what are you going to contribute? The unique was probably
just a silly or nonsense rhyming word um, or possibly
maybe an obsolete term meaning trifle or a small amount
or nothing whatsoever. Picnic translated to each pick a bit.
The word appeared in origine de la longe francois demonage
(11:20):
in Swo, which historians take to me and it had
been around in that country for a while. It popped
up even earlier, though with a different meaning, in sixteen
forty nine De chaman bedequet la de la compagni, Oh
my goodness, such a long time? Why uh French. This
(11:43):
was a burlesque satire, and the character Peicnick is a
hero but also at gluton out of place when compared
to the food shortages in the background resulting from his rebellion,
So historians speculate that it's an ironic name that had
an association with over the up meals born from the
expense of others. It didn't appear in English until but yes, yes, uh,
(12:10):
the the etymology of the word acide. An estimated four
thousand lynchings of black people did take place in settings
similar to a picnic between eighteen eighty two. In nineteen
sixty two from historian Philip dre quote, lynching was an
undeniable part of daily life, as distinctly American as baseball
games and church suppers. Men brought their wives and children
(12:33):
to the events, posed for commemorative photographs, and purchased souvenirs
of the occasion as if they had been at a
company picnic. And there are a lot of truly horrific
stories out there, Yes, um, people have been terrible, and
there are if if that is a piece of history
(12:55):
that you are interested in researching, there is certainly very
upsetting information out there for you. Okay, But with that
out of the way, yes, hard to make transitions from
something terrible that yes, okay. The first fancy meals enjoyed
outside probably took place in the Middle Ages, when hunting
(13:15):
was all their age. Among the will to do and
art from this period like robin Hood are the Bayout
tapestry feature picnics. Yeah, these would have been banquets for
the ruling class and royalty, prepared and carried and served
by dozens of servants, although woven baskets might have been
used to carry the food and dishwear like even back
then as there so light and strong just makes sense. Convenient.
(13:37):
Art from China around the same time, like nine d
or So, depicts picnics as well, elaborate lunches staged on
brightly colored rugs with all his fancy dining wear like
cast bronze coated in gold or silver and intricately etched.
Lots of servants at attendants there too. Later Chinese design
circle the fourteen to sixteen hundreds ditched the waiting metal
for bamboo lacquer ware. Um, he's really smartly nesting pieces
(14:00):
with a with a core of wood uh coated in
in lacquer, several layers of lacquer, and then an outside
layer of sturdy woven bamboo. And yeah, it would keep
the contents insulated like a thermos and was waterproof. Popular
among wealthy folks living in cities. Chinese laquerware would spread
to Japan and was expanded into varyingly fancy stuff from
(14:21):
like relatively simple red and black party wear two super
elaborate gilded picnic cabinets. These portable lunch cabinets had like
tears of trays and spaces to hold plates and cups
of different sizes, and often a little niche where you
could secure a sake, bottle or teapot. In Tokyo and Kyoto,
these picnic sets were often wedding gifts. Yeah, and for
(14:44):
a long time picnics worse squarely in activity for the rich,
because you didn't have time or funds for leisurely meal outdoors.
If you weren't right right, You might be served a
meal outdoors if you were working in a field, or
you might take your lunch along with you, but it
wasn't like a oh us retired to the blanket, yes exactly.
This started to change around the seventeen hundreds in Europe. However,
(15:07):
at the time, a lot of these picnics took place indoors.
Anyone invited had the option to bring a dish or
drink or simply pay their share. They had this air
of refined, intelligent, witty back and forth, like a verbal
chess match, complete with food and drinks on picnic. As
Jean jacq Rousseau wrote, some bigger picnics went all out
(15:31):
with music and dancing, sort of like a ball. Lady
Mark Coke described a subscription ball, and Hanover called a
picnic in seventeen sixty three. Author Cornelia Right fondly described
a picnic of dancing and song in seventeen seventy seven
while in To Lose. And this was the same time
the first restaurants were opening in Europe, and the same
people who picnic excitedly checked out these restaurants and sometimes
(15:54):
would bring like a picnic to a restaurant. From what
I understand, H think that's still a thing in some places. Well,
I mean you need snacks along the way, of course,
for your your long trick to eat, you need a
basket of food to eat. Yeah. Then along comes the
French Revolution. A lot of those who had the means
(16:17):
to picnic fled France. Some went to Austria, Prussia, or
the US, but most went to nearby Britain and specifically London.
While their financial situation was tighter than before. These French
aristocrats introduced the British to the picnic. This had two
main consequences. The first one is my favorite one. For
(16:38):
a hot minute, picnics became a bit wildlding a lot
lesser fine. And this was thanks to a group called
the Picnic Society, the brandchild of two hundred rich British Francophiles.
They rented out space and buildings on Tottenham Street for
their lavish gatherings and each attendee was tasked with bringing
(16:59):
a dish and bottles of wine. Eh. Yes, it was
going down for real, as every member tried to be
the most extravagant with their offerings. Post dinner, the festivities
continued with dancing, gambling, but the play was the main event,
and it wasn't a professional play. There was no orchestra,
(17:19):
the actors weren't professionals. The stage was really small and
kind of cobbled together, but everyone loved it, to the
point that the owner of the Drury Lane Theater noticed
the dnt this picnic thing was putting in his sales,
and he was a politician and a journalist and had
enough sway to shut the picnic party down. This was
(17:42):
well known enough an affair that a cartoonist depicted it
in a piece called Blowing Up the Picnic, and in
it you could see the theater owner that got the
thing shut down in a harlequin outfit, an empty purse
on his built you know, no money, leading professional actors
into battle against the picnic puppet on their small, crude stage,
(18:02):
and all the lavish food strewn about in the background.
It's pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty good, alright. The other
consequence was longer lasting. The middle class started picnicking. And
the reason why it's a bit muddled. It could be
that the British were already doing it and just applied
a fashionable French word to something that they did already,
(18:24):
especially those that add hopes of rising the ranks in society.
The picnic dropped the music and dancing part largely and
became more like how we know it today, a meal
a host invited others to attend. It took on an
innocent connotation, perhaps due to the its association with the
countryside yeah the The late seventeen and early eight hundreds
(18:46):
brought Romanticism into fashion in Europe, a sort of longing
for a return to nature considering civilization and industrialization forms
of corruption. So there was this increased interest in parks
and in countryside excursions. Yes, The Courtship Mary, Marriage and
Picnic Dinner of Cock Robin and Jenny Wren, a children's
(19:07):
book written in eighteen o six by John Harris, is
the first instance of this type of picnic on record.
Jane Austin's eighteen sixteen work Emma featured an awkward picnic um.
Soon after, the picnic made its way to the United States,
where it took on more of a get away from
it all attitude um and not in the same kind
of innocent countrysideway. Close but not quite the same. Art
(19:29):
from this time included picnics with the backtop of old
twisted trees and jagged rocks. At the same time, France,
with a fresh new monarchy, went back to indoor picnics
um and they said to me they just seemed like
dinner parties. I don't know, but anyway, again, particularly for
the rich. Author George sand described picnicking sixteen hours in
(19:52):
a restaurant in eighteen thirty nine. That is a long picnic. However,
picnicking was no longer reserved exclusively for the aristocracy In France,
um not only the middle class, but the working class
started picnicking. You can see this in eighteen seventy seven's
Lasamir by a meal Zola, when the financially strapped couple
through an indoor picnic for their wedding. Five francs each
(20:15):
got the invotees invitees excuse me, super rabbit, sue ham
free and other cheeses, fruit, coffee and brandy, which sounds
pretty good to me. A little before this work came out,
some French people did start picnicking outdoors, but most regarded
that practice with a lot of concern. Perhaps it had
an air of sinfulness, of a wickedness, and you can
(20:37):
see that reflected in eighteen sixty two and Manat's The
dejournat Sleb two fully dressed men enjoying a picnic with
a naked woman and a baylor also a woman uh
wearing practically nothing. Huh. Yeah. A little book we've discussed
on this show before, Mrs Beaton's Book of Household Management
had instructions on how to have a good picnic, and
(20:59):
if you remember, this book was all about being accessible,
not intimidating. UM For forty forty people. She suggested things
like four roast chickens for meat pies, four dozen cheesecakes,
to roast ducks, cold roast beef, a large plum pudding chilled,
three dozen quart bottles of beer, brandy, sherry, and claret.
(21:19):
I would totally be in. I would be so excited.
Oh my goodness, I have never seen such a fancy
picnic um. The section also included a list of things
not to be forgotten, including horse radish, a bottle of
salad dressing, a bottle of vinegar, good oil, mustard, pepper
and salt, pounded sugar, lump sugar, tea cups and saucers,
teapots and cork scraps very important. Yeah, the English were
(21:40):
pretty into outdoor picnics throughout the Victorian era. Lots of
societies and clubs from like sports to academics to religious
groups held annual picnics. And this is when the picnic
hamper or basket um that we think of today, made
of a wicker or wood and leather cloth that evolved
during this time. Their popularity soared to such heights that
(22:03):
businesses started selling specialized picnic baskets. Yeah, yeah, packed with
a travel tableware and portable kettles and burners, and ready
made meals everything from meat pies and hot house fruit
so fancy to to wild duck that required a no cutting,
thank you very much, ragu of veal, lobster salad. Oh yeah.
And in England, these hampers were particularly popular among spectators
(22:26):
at sporting events like Derby's. Apparently on Derby Day, carriages
would start lining up to pick up a posh picnic
basket from from Fort and Mason starting at four o'clock
in the morning. Oh yeah. And also apparently rich British
and American tourists in the middle of the eighteen hundreds
(22:49):
would picnic at battlefields um of the Crimean War and
the American Civil War, like like just hoping to check
out some action, Like they don't have Netflix, so this
is how they make their fun. Huh okay, I don't
like it. Nope, nope. The expression no picnic meaning not
fun was first recorded in and in the US as
(23:12):
um as cemeteries, like park like rural cemeteries started to
be built on the outside of city centers with grand
architecture and statuary and gardens through the latter half of
the eighteen hundreds people took to picnicking in cemeteries. Um,
either in like private ish fenced in areas with their
own family plots, or in more public areas. These were
(23:34):
kind of America's first public parks. Interesting yeah, in in
in the city sense. Anyway, It wasn't until the twentieth
century the outdoor picnic entirely lost its stigma and surpassed
the indoor variety and popularity. And this was in part
thanks to new ways of getting out to the countryside. Trains.
(23:54):
I wanted to say the movie title planes trains, automobiles, trains,
automobiles and bikes. No planes yet, not yet. I don't know.
I mean, I'm sure some rich people have taken, oh gosh,
a plane for a picnic, but most of us have
not done everything. Um. We see this in Wind in
the Willow is not the plant thing? When a hungry
mole asked Ratty, what's in his picnic basket? Quote, there's
(24:18):
cold chicken inside, it replied the rat briefly, cold tongue
called ham, cold beef, pickled harring, salad, French roll rolls,
crests and sandwiches, spotted meat, ginger, beer, lemonade, soda, water.
Oh stops up, cried the mole in ecstasies. This is
too much, do you really think so, inquired the rat. Seriously,
It's only what I always take on these little excursions,
and the other animals are always telling me that I'm
(24:40):
a mean beast and cut it very fine. Who knows
what that means? Think about it later. I'm sure there's
been some literary discussion around it. Um. It was around
this time, the turn of the twentieth century, that baskets
with built in spaces for tableware, all those little little
(25:02):
little loops and stuff to hold all your stuff in place,
became popular then. Uh. In nineteen eleven, Edward Fitzgerald published
his very loose, very Victorian minded translation of some uh
quatrains by the eleventh century Persian poet and mathematician oh
Marie hi um Um, including the famous here with a
(25:24):
loaf of bread beneath the bough, a flask of wine,
a book of verse, and thou beside me singing in
the wilderness, and wilderness is paradise now, yeah, sweet yeah.
Awarding varies again, that's a that's a I. Mr Fitzgerald
was was doing it very Victorian lee m but but yeah,
you get that, you get you get the idea from
(25:47):
New York Times article quote. A few cold fried chickens,
some peanut sandwiches, a big paper sack full of Saratoga chips,
some potato salad and fruit jar, two or three kinds
of jelly, and bread and butter, a couple of chocolate
cakes and a coconut cake, and a freeze strawberry ice cream,
and a few accessories were practically all we expected at
a picnic dinner. In those days, it was customary for
(26:08):
people who went on picnics to go to a certain
spot where there was a small river the size of creek,
with some right respectful sized cliffs on both sides. The
advantages of this place where that it was twelve miles away,
which meant a long drive home by moonlight or starlight
as the case might be, it didn't matter much, and
there were a lot of rocks in the creek where
the girls could cross over to the other side. To
make anybody desire to be there. One of the great
(26:29):
problems and making arrangements for a picnic was the selection
of a chaperone. Were usually succeeded in getting hold of
somebody only about four or five years older than ourselves,
and then one of the boys would fix it with
an older brother to go along and look after and
keep her mind occupied. The day after the picnic, the
local paper would write it up and close by saying
that a delightful time has had and that's the true wow.
(26:53):
And there are so so many picnic bill of fares
out there from like this general era, and they're fascinating
and specific, like the Fire Island costume, body picnic menu. Okay,
I wanted to include so many, but yeah, I only
(27:14):
have so much time for picnic bill a fair um.
The lyrics to the Teddy Bears Picnic The song Um
were published in ninety two by Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy,
set to a composition then known as the Teddy Bear
Too Step, which had been composed back in um after
(27:36):
it was created. After that whole thing where Teddy Roosevelt
was caricatured in a political cartoon for refusing to shoot
this bear that his staff had like captured for him
and like kind of subdued, and he was like, I'm
not going to kill that bear. And then there was
this political cartoon that came out that was depicting the
whole thing. And that's where we got Teddy Bears from.
And so then we got the Teddy Bear too step,
(27:57):
and then decades later we got the Teddy Bear picnic,
unrelated mostly to Teddy Roosevelt. Um. And it's a pretty
weird song. I don't know how much of the lyrics
y'all remember to this song. UM, But okay, I'm not
going to sing it for you. That would be terrible
and it would get it's stuck in your head for
literally ever. We don't want that. No, no, nobody needs that.
(28:17):
But okay, if you go down to the woods today,
you're sure of a big surprise. If you go down
to the woods today, you'd better go in disguise, for
every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain,
because today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.
If you go down to the woods today, you'd better
not go alone. It's lovely down in the woods today,
but safer to stay at home. That's terrified. This is
(28:42):
a two step. Oh god. Um. There is a beautiful,
just beautiful piece published in the Paris Review UM about
how dang creepy the song is. Um. It's written by
one Sadie Stein. Um quote like Mason's, the Teddy Bears
guard their secrets closely and will punish any spies in
(29:03):
their midst. The picnic sounds less innocent playtime than secret
history style bachanal with a dash of wicker Man into
the bargain. Oh dear, this is gonna make me see
teddy Bears in a whole new light. Maybe that's what
are we got? A giant aunt, a big teddy bear.
Oh no, it's coming together, Okay, it is rights itself.
(29:25):
In nineteen nine, Franklin Roosevelt hosted a picnic for the
visiting King George the sixth and Queen Elizabeth, which we
have mentioned before because yeah, because they served hot dogs sandwiches.
Oh controversy um. And then I just figured i'd mentioned
Yogi Bear because if I don't someone right in, he's
(29:45):
always after a picnic basket. Probably have to do with
that teddy bear thing I've never really considered. And then
one last thing. Some more recent works of art, especially literature,
from what I remember, have reverted back to that kind
of man Nay, picnicking is a symbol of moral corruption thing. Yeah, okay,
(30:07):
I don't know why but you know, interesting people having
fun outdoors. Gosh, no one likes that, especially not the
teddy Bears. We've learned a lot today. We have we,
we have yes and uh and that that is about
(30:29):
all that we have to learn, I believe about picnics
on this current day. Um. We do have some listener
mail for you, but first we've got another quick break
for a word from our sponsor. And we're back. Thank
(30:51):
you sponsored, Yes, thank you, We're back with That's a
Yogi beart that's signed to attack you like I think
he wants to. I've never seen Yokie Bear. I don't
know what I'm talking about. You've never seen Yokie Bear. Nope,
what I know? I want the picnic basket though? How
(31:11):
did you escape it? Okay? Anyway, anyway, Chanel wrote, I
recently bought myself a cast iron pan. Congratulations. While certainly
not unheard of in Australia, cast iron pans are not
standard here. I'm obsessed with it and have been cooking
everything I can think of in my lovely new pan.
I even went and bought six tiny baby pants to
(31:31):
cook individual desserts. While listening to your Chocolate chip Cookie episode,
I proudly told the empty car that had recently made
a giant chocolate chip picky or cookie as you say
in my cast iron pan. No one I know has
ever seen a giant chocolate chip picky before, so it
was quite exciting. I'm sure the car was thrilled. Uh.
(31:52):
Just this weekend, my brother and I went to the
shops and saw rhubarb sitting out the front of the
fruit and bed shop. I bought some for another cast
iron experiment and told my brother that you can't eat
the leaves, as they are poisonous. A podcast told me so.
He found it amusing that I listened to podcasts about rhubarb.
We walked onto the Dutch carrots and I informed my
brother that you can eat the tops of tops of carrots.
(32:13):
A podcast told me so. While he was laughing, an
old woman who had overheard me came up and said, Wow,
what can you do with the carrot tops? While I
was trying to remember if you should steam them or
stew them, the lady said, but don't eat the leaves
of that rue barb. It's poisonous. The lady continued to
press me on carrot details. I tried to sneak away
to purchase my fresh produce, and just as I thought
(32:34):
I had got away from the lady, she helped from
the other side of the shop. Hey carrot lady, can
you eat the tops of purple carrots too? And brandished
a purple carrot at me. So thanks for being the
influence of a very interesting grocery shop. I made a
delicious rhubarb cobbler in my big and small cast in
iron pants. If we were closer, I'd save something for you.
(32:56):
My husband had never tried rebarb before, and the dessert
won him over a pictures and it looked amazing. Oh yeah, congratulations. Yes,
I'm excited about all of this. I know. Oh that's
it's all beautiful, bringing people together, annoying them sometimes pretty much. Yeah,
we do our best, Victoria wrote, I'm sure I won't
(33:18):
be the only one to point this out, but you
didn't mention that Pixars Cars three had a scene where
Lightning McQueen is relearning the ways of racing with the
vehicles of Legend themselves. In the training montage, all the
cars went for a moonlight drive no headlights, and so
they used to run moonshine back in the day. A
spirited little alcohol history hidden within a children's movie. Huh
(33:40):
huh indeed shine Yeah, Cars three. You know, I'm not
going to go into it right now, but I made
Dylan listen to it the other day. My whole the
Pixar Connected universe, And if anyone's interested, you should look
up because Cars well, there's a lot of stuff in
(34:01):
here about moonshine that I find fascinating that they would
bring it up. Sure I have, I haven't. I haven't
seen Cars three. Um, I can't wait. I'm annoy you
with this. I can't wait. I forgot about that though,
So that's great. Yeah, thank you, Yes, thanks to both
(34:22):
of them for writing in. If you would like to
write to us, you can Our email is Hello savor
pod dot com, or you can find us on social media.
We are on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at savor Pod.
We do hope to hear from you. Savor is a
production of I Heart Radio and Stuff Media. For more
podcasts from My Heart Radio, you can visit the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(34:43):
your favorite shows. Thank you, as always to our superproducers
Dylan Bagan and Andrew Howard. Thank you to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
Below, and welcome to save our production of I Heart
Radio and Stuff Media. I'm Annis and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum,
and today we're talking about picnics. Yes, and I would
like to start a story with a picnic basket, um,
because this idea has been on my mind since I
went to a weird Al concert a couple of weeks ago.
And this was courtesy of our coworker and friend Alex Williams,
(00:29):
which if you had checked out his new show that
I see might produce Ephemeral, you totally should. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's super excellent. It is. But anyway, he gave me
some free tickets to the show because he had some
family members cancel um and it was outdoors on the
grass and you could bring in your own food and drink.
And the people in front of us had our attention
the whole time because they had this picnic basket that
(00:51):
blew our mind and everybody around us. We were not
the only ones that were staring at this picnic basket
because it was like steampunk and had these leather straps
on the inside for plates and utensils champagne flutes, but
they didn't have the bottoms and there was this thing
you could put them in in the picnic basket, but
there's this almost it had a fan, a fan inside
(01:18):
blowing to keep it. That's wild. I mean, in Atlanta
in the summer picnic basket with a fan. Dang, my mind,
you are impressed. I was very impressed. And at one point,
because I was kind of having a side conversation about
it with my friend on the right, at one point
(01:39):
I turned to Alex and I overheard him and his
wife and they were talking about it was awesome anyway.
Also in Eastern Egg, we had to make a promotional
video once this very show, and there's a scene towards
the end where we're having a picnic with several of
our past topics like pineapple fried chicken. Yeah, all of
(02:00):
these food items from past episodes that we had done exactly.
And it was in Piedmont Park and they were filming
Avengers Infinity War right next to us, and they can't
like technically kick us out, but I could tell they
were annoying. They were getting real ready to do it. Yeah,
they were like I think that we had to time
our shots very carefully because they kept like like trouncing
(02:23):
across the background with all of these giant like rig
works that they were getting ready to set up. So
if we had gotten there like an hour later, I
don't think we could have done it. Yeah, there was
some guy in a golf cart who was just driving around,
clearly waiting to tell us you gotta get here. It
was the scene in the beginning where Doctor Strange comes
(02:44):
in and it's like, yo, Tony Stark, we got a
big problem here. Anyway, when I was thinking about this,
I have had some successful picnics in my day, and
they mostly are are we're at concerts or shows once
and from the Eiffel Tower. But I'm usually more of
a packed lunch or a cooler situation. Yeah. Yeah, I
(03:05):
usually have a lot of snacks with me. A picnic
is not something that I would organize on my own
because I'm like, oh man, that's a lot. But um,
but but I've got I've gone to a few. I
had a really excellent friends going away picnic. I mean,
I'm sad that she went away, but I'm glad that
we got to have a nice picnic about it. Um.
I one of my most successful dates that turned into
one of my least successful dates. At the end of
(03:27):
the evening started with a picnic. Oh well, I'm very
curious about that. I'll ask you later. But this all
brings us to our question picnics. What are they? Well,
sometimes you take food outside and you eat it there
(03:49):
instead of eating it inside. It's a very simple explanation.
Usually the ones that have simple explanations. It's like in
the word that's not in the word here, no, no,
and I I can make it a little bit more
complicated for you if you want perfect sure. Um. Yeah,
picnic is a meal prepared to be taken and served outdoors,
often all pre cooked and preassembled so that you don't
(04:11):
have to do any work other than unpacking once you
reach your destination. Um is sometimes brought to parks that
have tables or even grills, or even you bring your
own grill wild um sometimes uh brought to be served
out on blankets on the grass, often packed up in
special basket sets or coolers or something like that. On
a picnic, you might play lawn games, or or you
(04:32):
might be on a picnic in order to watch a
sporting or art event of some kind, or or you
might bring a picnic lunch with you as you're going
Berry picking or on a hike in the woods or
something like that. Uh. Fun times. In Europe, I think
it seems like the word picnic is applied to outdoor
events of many kinds. Of note, there's an annual science
(04:53):
picnic in Poland. It's been running since and um it
doesn't seem to necessarily be food related, but rather just
like a like a big public science festival thrown by
the National Public Radio of Poland and by the Copernicus
Science Center. That sounds fun. I know, I want to
go to this thing now. Yeah, put it on our
(05:14):
field ship list. Some popular picnic options in the US
are fried chicken, potato, salad, watermelon or other fruit, lemonade, beer,
hot dogs, pie, doubled eggs, sandwiches, wine, cheese, bread, cold cuts,
cut fruit, cut vegetables, chips, dips, handheld baked goods, chicken salad,
tuna salad. M Yeah, and there are all kinds of
(05:35):
traditions around the world. I would love to hear some
of y'alls from wherever it is that you hail from. Um. Yeah,
on Geary and pickles in Japan, warm weather, Christmas picnics
in Argentina, your mate in Brazil Scotch Eggs in Britain,
hot Tea in New Zealand. Apparently picnicking is a super
big deal in Turkey and there are thousands of parks
(05:55):
like kind of specifically for picnics throughout the country. Oh yes,
please is right in about that. Yeah, and if we
do have some picnic numbers. Okay, So the world's largest
picnic basket is. It's a building that's shaped like a basket.
It is seven stories tall. It's over two feet wide,
that's about sixty um And yeah, it's made to look
(06:18):
like a big woven basket like gaps in the weaving
are the windows. It does have two giant handles on
the roof. Yeah. It was built as the headquarters of
the basket making company Lunga Burger. Yeah. Cost thirty two
million dollars to build it. Yeah, I mean, and it
(06:39):
looks like they're iconic picnic basket. It even has like
the little brass plate on the top of it. Anyway. Yeah,
the company has since fallen on rough times and abandoned
the building. It's abandoned. Uh yeah, I think that. I
think as a sten no one was in it. Um,
this is rife for a horror movie. Oh my gosh,
(07:02):
I have got to give this more thought. Leader. There's
abandoned picnic basket building. Yeah, that I could shoot a
horror movie. Yeah. At the time, I think it had
like maybe reverted to um to to the local government
ownership UM, and was possibly for sale for as little
as like six thousand dollars. We can do this, Lawrence. Yeah,
(07:26):
I know, I get it, Kickstarter. We have a picnic
building all to ourselves. Soon enough, all right, I need
this horror movie to involve giant ants for sure. Yes, okay, okay,
I need to focus. UM. Some places on our very
own belt line offer baskets with food for the park.
UM for Pemont Park in the belt line is case
(07:47):
you don't know, it's sort of like a converted railway walkway. Yeah, yeah,
it's it's it's for um, humans to move across. So
that's not very descriptive. It's it's for walkers and bike riders,
and it's like the high Line in New York if
you've been to that share and yeah, no, this is
a this is a whole business. In many places around
around the world. UM. Lots of restaurants and caterers will
(08:09):
offer UM uh sometimes literal baskets they will pack up
for you, ranging from simple sandwiches to whole spreads with
like steak and trim cocktail and whatever. It is. What
a fancy picnic. I know in the UK National Picnic
Week is in June. Um, and there are all kinds
of holidays around the world celebrated with picnics. The one
that's coming to mind is da del Sport, those where, um,
(08:31):
you would frequently go with your family to have a
kind of little picnic in the cemetery where you have
family plots. But yeah, that's that's the one that's coming
to mind. Lots more, lots more. Oh yes, and I
wrote picnic baskets, picnic baskets. Um, it's a mystery to
all of us. But I think it just to reiterate
(08:51):
how impressed I am. I didn't know there was this
whole world of, um, picnic baskets that are very They're
much more than I thought they were, I guess, is
what I'm trying to say. They're more than just a basket.
Oh yeah, yeah, and in all kinds of there's a
there's a whole industry of designing these baskets and blankets
(09:11):
and yeah, Yeah. Actually, um, one of our past parent
companies when they bought us, gave us a picnic blanket
that folds folds up and you can kind of el
grow it together into the tiny little package. Had it. Yeah,
I'm still confused by that, like introductory gift but too
(09:32):
but I have used it, so gosh, I don't think
I wound up taking on her. If I did, it
is in a box somewhere that is not my home. Um,
well as lass a lack. There's a surprising amount of picnic.
Oh my goodness, there is, um. And we will get
(09:52):
into that as soon as we get back from a
quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you. And before we get
too deep into the history, we really have to talk
about where the word comes from. Yes. Yes, because a
(10:13):
lot of the Internet will tell you that it has
a racist background. Yeah, that almost of your first results
will be pages looking into whether or not it is
racist or that practices racist. Yes. And this is partially
a misunderstanding that stems from a rumor that the word
picnic comes from murders and lynchings of black people in
(10:33):
America during the eighteen and nineteen hundreds um that it
originally meant to pick an n word to murder. Right, Um,
it does not, it does not. Historians agree that the
word derives from a mid sixteen hundreds of French word picnic,
referring to essentially food ease or snobs who bought their
own wine when going out. The peak most likely referred
(10:58):
to either picking at your own or just pick um,
what are you going to contribute? The unique was probably
just a silly or nonsense rhyming word um, or possibly
maybe an obsolete term meaning trifle or a small amount
or nothing whatsoever. Picnic translated to each pick a bit.
The word appeared in origine de la longe francois demonage
(11:20):
in Swo, which historians take to me and it had
been around in that country for a while. It popped
up even earlier, though with a different meaning, in sixteen
forty nine De chaman bedequet la de la compagni, Oh
my goodness, such a long time? Why uh French. This
(11:43):
was a burlesque satire, and the character Peicnick is a
hero but also at gluton out of place when compared
to the food shortages in the background resulting from his rebellion,
So historians speculate that it's an ironic name that had
an association with over the up meals born from the
expense of others. It didn't appear in English until but yes, yes, uh,
(12:10):
the the etymology of the word acide. An estimated four
thousand lynchings of black people did take place in settings
similar to a picnic between eighteen eighty two. In nineteen
sixty two from historian Philip dre quote, lynching was an
undeniable part of daily life, as distinctly American as baseball
games and church suppers. Men brought their wives and children
(12:33):
to the events, posed for commemorative photographs, and purchased souvenirs
of the occasion as if they had been at a
company picnic. And there are a lot of truly horrific
stories out there, Yes, um, people have been terrible, and
there are if if that is a piece of history
(12:55):
that you are interested in researching, there is certainly very
upsetting information out there for you. Okay, But with that
out of the way, yes, hard to make transitions from
something terrible that yes, okay. The first fancy meals enjoyed
outside probably took place in the Middle Ages, when hunting
(13:15):
was all their age. Among the will to do and
art from this period like robin Hood are the Bayout
tapestry feature picnics. Yeah, these would have been banquets for
the ruling class and royalty, prepared and carried and served
by dozens of servants, although woven baskets might have been
used to carry the food and dishwear like even back
then as there so light and strong just makes sense. Convenient.
(13:37):
Art from China around the same time, like nine d
or So, depicts picnics as well, elaborate lunches staged on
brightly colored rugs with all his fancy dining wear like
cast bronze coated in gold or silver and intricately etched.
Lots of servants at attendants there too. Later Chinese design
circle the fourteen to sixteen hundreds ditched the waiting metal
for bamboo lacquer ware. Um, he's really smartly nesting pieces
(14:00):
with a with a core of wood uh coated in
in lacquer, several layers of lacquer, and then an outside
layer of sturdy woven bamboo. And yeah, it would keep
the contents insulated like a thermos and was waterproof. Popular
among wealthy folks living in cities. Chinese laquerware would spread
to Japan and was expanded into varyingly fancy stuff from
(14:21):
like relatively simple red and black party wear two super
elaborate gilded picnic cabinets. These portable lunch cabinets had like
tears of trays and spaces to hold plates and cups
of different sizes, and often a little niche where you
could secure a sake, bottle or teapot. In Tokyo and Kyoto,
these picnic sets were often wedding gifts. Yeah, and for
(14:44):
a long time picnics worse squarely in activity for the rich,
because you didn't have time or funds for leisurely meal outdoors.
If you weren't right right, You might be served a
meal outdoors if you were working in a field, or
you might take your lunch along with you, but it
wasn't like a oh us retired to the blanket, yes exactly.
This started to change around the seventeen hundreds in Europe. However,
(15:07):
at the time, a lot of these picnics took place indoors.
Anyone invited had the option to bring a dish or
drink or simply pay their share. They had this air
of refined, intelligent, witty back and forth, like a verbal
chess match, complete with food and drinks on picnic. As
Jean jacq Rousseau wrote, some bigger picnics went all out
(15:31):
with music and dancing, sort of like a ball. Lady
Mark Coke described a subscription ball, and Hanover called a
picnic in seventeen sixty three. Author Cornelia Right fondly described
a picnic of dancing and song in seventeen seventy seven
while in To Lose. And this was the same time
the first restaurants were opening in Europe, and the same
people who picnic excitedly checked out these restaurants and sometimes
(15:54):
would bring like a picnic to a restaurant. From what
I understand, H think that's still a thing in some places. Well,
I mean you need snacks along the way, of course,
for your your long trick to eat, you need a
basket of food to eat. Yeah. Then along comes the
French Revolution. A lot of those who had the means
(16:17):
to picnic fled France. Some went to Austria, Prussia, or
the US, but most went to nearby Britain and specifically London.
While their financial situation was tighter than before. These French
aristocrats introduced the British to the picnic. This had two
main consequences. The first one is my favorite one. For
(16:38):
a hot minute, picnics became a bit wildlding a lot
lesser fine. And this was thanks to a group called
the Picnic Society, the brandchild of two hundred rich British Francophiles.
They rented out space and buildings on Tottenham Street for
their lavish gatherings and each attendee was tasked with bringing
(16:59):
a dish and bottles of wine. Eh. Yes, it was
going down for real, as every member tried to be
the most extravagant with their offerings. Post dinner, the festivities
continued with dancing, gambling, but the play was the main event,
and it wasn't a professional play. There was no orchestra,
(17:19):
the actors weren't professionals. The stage was really small and
kind of cobbled together, but everyone loved it, to the
point that the owner of the Drury Lane Theater noticed
the dnt this picnic thing was putting in his sales,
and he was a politician and a journalist and had
enough sway to shut the picnic party down. This was
(17:42):
well known enough an affair that a cartoonist depicted it
in a piece called Blowing Up the Picnic, and in
it you could see the theater owner that got the
thing shut down in a harlequin outfit, an empty purse
on his built you know, no money, leading professional actors
into battle against the picnic puppet on their small, crude stage,
(18:02):
and all the lavish food strewn about in the background.
It's pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty good, alright. The other
consequence was longer lasting. The middle class started picnicking. And
the reason why it's a bit muddled. It could be
that the British were already doing it and just applied
a fashionable French word to something that they did already,
(18:24):
especially those that add hopes of rising the ranks in society.
The picnic dropped the music and dancing part largely and
became more like how we know it today, a meal
a host invited others to attend. It took on an
innocent connotation, perhaps due to the its association with the
countryside yeah the The late seventeen and early eight hundreds
(18:46):
brought Romanticism into fashion in Europe, a sort of longing
for a return to nature considering civilization and industrialization forms
of corruption. So there was this increased interest in parks
and in countryside excursions. Yes, The Courtship Mary, Marriage and
Picnic Dinner of Cock Robin and Jenny Wren, a children's
(19:07):
book written in eighteen o six by John Harris, is
the first instance of this type of picnic on record.
Jane Austin's eighteen sixteen work Emma featured an awkward picnic um.
Soon after, the picnic made its way to the United States,
where it took on more of a get away from
it all attitude um and not in the same kind
of innocent countrysideway. Close but not quite the same. Art
(19:29):
from this time included picnics with the backtop of old
twisted trees and jagged rocks. At the same time, France,
with a fresh new monarchy, went back to indoor picnics
um and they said to me they just seemed like
dinner parties. I don't know, but anyway, again, particularly for
the rich. Author George sand described picnicking sixteen hours in
(19:52):
a restaurant in eighteen thirty nine. That is a long picnic. However,
picnicking was no longer reserved exclusively for the aristocracy In France,
um not only the middle class, but the working class
started picnicking. You can see this in eighteen seventy seven's
Lasamir by a meal Zola, when the financially strapped couple
through an indoor picnic for their wedding. Five francs each
(20:15):
got the invotees invitees excuse me, super rabbit, sue ham
free and other cheeses, fruit, coffee and brandy, which sounds
pretty good to me. A little before this work came out,
some French people did start picnicking outdoors, but most regarded
that practice with a lot of concern. Perhaps it had
an air of sinfulness, of a wickedness, and you can
(20:37):
see that reflected in eighteen sixty two and Manat's The
dejournat Sleb two fully dressed men enjoying a picnic with
a naked woman and a baylor also a woman uh
wearing practically nothing. Huh. Yeah. A little book we've discussed
on this show before, Mrs Beaton's Book of Household Management
had instructions on how to have a good picnic, and
(20:59):
if you remember, this book was all about being accessible,
not intimidating. UM For forty forty people. She suggested things
like four roast chickens for meat pies, four dozen cheesecakes,
to roast ducks, cold roast beef, a large plum pudding chilled,
three dozen quart bottles of beer, brandy, sherry, and claret.
(21:19):
I would totally be in. I would be so excited.
Oh my goodness, I have never seen such a fancy
picnic um. The section also included a list of things
not to be forgotten, including horse radish, a bottle of
salad dressing, a bottle of vinegar, good oil, mustard, pepper
and salt, pounded sugar, lump sugar, tea cups and saucers,
teapots and cork scraps very important. Yeah, the English were
(21:40):
pretty into outdoor picnics throughout the Victorian era. Lots of
societies and clubs from like sports to academics to religious
groups held annual picnics. And this is when the picnic
hamper or basket um that we think of today, made
of a wicker or wood and leather cloth that evolved
during this time. Their popularity soared to such heights that
(22:03):
businesses started selling specialized picnic baskets. Yeah, yeah, packed with
a travel tableware and portable kettles and burners, and ready
made meals everything from meat pies and hot house fruit
so fancy to to wild duck that required a no cutting,
thank you very much, ragu of veal, lobster salad. Oh yeah.
And in England, these hampers were particularly popular among spectators
(22:26):
at sporting events like Derby's. Apparently on Derby Day, carriages
would start lining up to pick up a posh picnic
basket from from Fort and Mason starting at four o'clock
in the morning. Oh yeah. And also apparently rich British
and American tourists in the middle of the eighteen hundreds
(22:49):
would picnic at battlefields um of the Crimean War and
the American Civil War, like like just hoping to check
out some action, Like they don't have Netflix, so this
is how they make their fun. Huh okay, I don't
like it. Nope, nope. The expression no picnic meaning not
fun was first recorded in and in the US as
(23:12):
um as cemeteries, like park like rural cemeteries started to
be built on the outside of city centers with grand
architecture and statuary and gardens through the latter half of
the eighteen hundreds people took to picnicking in cemeteries. Um,
either in like private ish fenced in areas with their
own family plots, or in more public areas. These were
(23:34):
kind of America's first public parks. Interesting yeah, in in
in the city sense. Anyway, It wasn't until the twentieth
century the outdoor picnic entirely lost its stigma and surpassed
the indoor variety and popularity. And this was in part
thanks to new ways of getting out to the countryside. Trains.
(23:54):
I wanted to say the movie title planes trains, automobiles, trains,
automobiles and bikes. No planes yet, not yet. I don't know.
I mean, I'm sure some rich people have taken, oh gosh,
a plane for a picnic, but most of us have
not done everything. Um. We see this in Wind in
the Willow is not the plant thing? When a hungry
mole asked Ratty, what's in his picnic basket? Quote, there's
(24:18):
cold chicken inside, it replied the rat briefly, cold tongue
called ham, cold beef, pickled harring, salad, French roll rolls,
crests and sandwiches, spotted meat, ginger, beer, lemonade, soda, water.
Oh stops up, cried the mole in ecstasies. This is
too much, do you really think so, inquired the rat. Seriously,
It's only what I always take on these little excursions,
and the other animals are always telling me that I'm
(24:40):
a mean beast and cut it very fine. Who knows
what that means? Think about it later. I'm sure there's
been some literary discussion around it. Um. It was around
this time, the turn of the twentieth century, that baskets
with built in spaces for tableware, all those little little
(25:02):
little loops and stuff to hold all your stuff in place,
became popular then. Uh. In nineteen eleven, Edward Fitzgerald published
his very loose, very Victorian minded translation of some uh
quatrains by the eleventh century Persian poet and mathematician oh
Marie hi um Um, including the famous here with a
(25:24):
loaf of bread beneath the bough, a flask of wine,
a book of verse, and thou beside me singing in
the wilderness, and wilderness is paradise now, yeah, sweet yeah.
Awarding varies again, that's a that's a I. Mr Fitzgerald
was was doing it very Victorian lee m but but yeah,
you get that, you get you get the idea from
(25:47):
New York Times article quote. A few cold fried chickens,
some peanut sandwiches, a big paper sack full of Saratoga chips,
some potato salad and fruit jar, two or three kinds
of jelly, and bread and butter, a couple of chocolate
cakes and a coconut cake, and a freeze strawberry ice cream,
and a few accessories were practically all we expected at
a picnic dinner. In those days, it was customary for
(26:08):
people who went on picnics to go to a certain
spot where there was a small river the size of creek,
with some right respectful sized cliffs on both sides. The
advantages of this place where that it was twelve miles away,
which meant a long drive home by moonlight or starlight
as the case might be, it didn't matter much, and
there were a lot of rocks in the creek where
the girls could cross over to the other side. To
make anybody desire to be there. One of the great
(26:29):
problems and making arrangements for a picnic was the selection
of a chaperone. Were usually succeeded in getting hold of
somebody only about four or five years older than ourselves,
and then one of the boys would fix it with
an older brother to go along and look after and
keep her mind occupied. The day after the picnic, the
local paper would write it up and close by saying
that a delightful time has had and that's the true wow.
(26:53):
And there are so so many picnic bill of fares
out there from like this general era, and they're fascinating
and specific, like the Fire Island costume, body picnic menu. Okay,
I wanted to include so many, but yeah, I only
(27:14):
have so much time for picnic bill a fair um.
The lyrics to the Teddy Bears Picnic The song Um
were published in ninety two by Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy,
set to a composition then known as the Teddy Bear
Too Step, which had been composed back in um after
(27:36):
it was created. After that whole thing where Teddy Roosevelt
was caricatured in a political cartoon for refusing to shoot
this bear that his staff had like captured for him
and like kind of subdued, and he was like, I'm
not going to kill that bear. And then there was
this political cartoon that came out that was depicting the
whole thing. And that's where we got Teddy Bears from.
And so then we got the Teddy Bear too step,
(27:57):
and then decades later we got the Teddy Bear picnic,
unrelated mostly to Teddy Roosevelt. Um. And it's a pretty
weird song. I don't know how much of the lyrics
y'all remember to this song. UM, But okay, I'm not
going to sing it for you. That would be terrible
and it would get it's stuck in your head for
literally ever. We don't want that. No, no, nobody needs that.
(28:17):
But okay, if you go down to the woods today,
you're sure of a big surprise. If you go down
to the woods today, you'd better go in disguise, for
every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain,
because today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.
If you go down to the woods today, you'd better
not go alone. It's lovely down in the woods today,
but safer to stay at home. That's terrified. This is
(28:42):
a two step. Oh god. Um. There is a beautiful,
just beautiful piece published in the Paris Review UM about
how dang creepy the song is. Um. It's written by
one Sadie Stein. Um quote like Mason's, the Teddy Bears
guard their secrets closely and will punish any spies in
(29:03):
their midst. The picnic sounds less innocent playtime than secret
history style bachanal with a dash of wicker Man into
the bargain. Oh dear, this is gonna make me see
teddy Bears in a whole new light. Maybe that's what
are we got? A giant aunt, a big teddy bear.
Oh no, it's coming together, Okay, it is rights itself.
(29:25):
In nineteen nine, Franklin Roosevelt hosted a picnic for the
visiting King George the sixth and Queen Elizabeth, which we
have mentioned before because yeah, because they served hot dogs sandwiches.
Oh controversy um. And then I just figured i'd mentioned
Yogi Bear because if I don't someone right in, he's
(29:45):
always after a picnic basket. Probably have to do with
that teddy bear thing I've never really considered. And then
one last thing. Some more recent works of art, especially literature,
from what I remember, have reverted back to that kind
of man Nay, picnicking is a symbol of moral corruption thing. Yeah, okay,
(30:07):
I don't know why but you know, interesting people having
fun outdoors. Gosh, no one likes that, especially not the
teddy Bears. We've learned a lot today. We have we,
we have yes and uh and that that is about
(30:29):
all that we have to learn, I believe about picnics
on this current day. Um. We do have some listener
mail for you, but first we've got another quick break
for a word from our sponsor. And we're back. Thank
(30:51):
you sponsored, Yes, thank you, We're back with That's a
Yogi beart that's signed to attack you like I think
he wants to. I've never seen Yokie Bear. I don't
know what I'm talking about. You've never seen Yokie Bear. Nope,
what I know? I want the picnic basket though? How
(31:11):
did you escape it? Okay? Anyway, anyway, Chanel wrote, I
recently bought myself a cast iron pan. Congratulations. While certainly
not unheard of in Australia, cast iron pans are not
standard here. I'm obsessed with it and have been cooking
everything I can think of in my lovely new pan.
I even went and bought six tiny baby pants to
(31:31):
cook individual desserts. While listening to your Chocolate chip Cookie episode,
I proudly told the empty car that had recently made
a giant chocolate chip picky or cookie as you say
in my cast iron pan. No one I know has
ever seen a giant chocolate chip picky before, so it
was quite exciting. I'm sure the car was thrilled. Uh.
(31:52):
Just this weekend, my brother and I went to the
shops and saw rhubarb sitting out the front of the
fruit and bed shop. I bought some for another cast
iron experiment and told my brother that you can't eat
the leaves, as they are poisonous. A podcast told me so.
He found it amusing that I listened to podcasts about rhubarb.
We walked onto the Dutch carrots and I informed my
brother that you can eat the tops of tops of carrots.
(32:13):
A podcast told me so. While he was laughing, an
old woman who had overheard me came up and said, Wow,
what can you do with the carrot tops? While I
was trying to remember if you should steam them or
stew them, the lady said, but don't eat the leaves
of that rue barb. It's poisonous. The lady continued to
press me on carrot details. I tried to sneak away
to purchase my fresh produce, and just as I thought
(32:34):
I had got away from the lady, she helped from
the other side of the shop. Hey carrot lady, can
you eat the tops of purple carrots too? And brandished
a purple carrot at me. So thanks for being the
influence of a very interesting grocery shop. I made a
delicious rhubarb cobbler in my big and small cast in
iron pants. If we were closer, I'd save something for you.
(32:56):
My husband had never tried rebarb before, and the dessert
won him over a pictures and it looked amazing. Oh yeah, congratulations. Yes,
I'm excited about all of this. I know. Oh that's
it's all beautiful, bringing people together, annoying them sometimes pretty much. Yeah,
we do our best, Victoria wrote, I'm sure I won't
(33:18):
be the only one to point this out, but you
didn't mention that Pixars Cars three had a scene where
Lightning McQueen is relearning the ways of racing with the
vehicles of Legend themselves. In the training montage, all the
cars went for a moonlight drive no headlights, and so
they used to run moonshine back in the day. A
spirited little alcohol history hidden within a children's movie. Huh
(33:40):
huh indeed shine Yeah, Cars three. You know, I'm not
going to go into it right now, but I made
Dylan listen to it the other day. My whole the
Pixar Connected universe, And if anyone's interested, you should look
up because Cars well, there's a lot of stuff in
(34:01):
here about moonshine that I find fascinating that they would
bring it up. Sure I have, I haven't. I haven't
seen Cars three. Um, I can't wait. I'm annoy you
with this. I can't wait. I forgot about that though,
So that's great. Yeah, thank you, Yes, thanks to both
(34:22):
of them for writing in. If you would like to
write to us, you can Our email is Hello savor
pod dot com, or you can find us on social media.
We are on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at savor Pod.
We do hope to hear from you. Savor is a
production of I Heart Radio and Stuff Media. For more
podcasts from My Heart Radio, you can visit the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(34:43):
your favorite shows. Thank you, as always to our superproducers
Dylan Bagan and Andrew Howard. Thank you to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
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Lauren Vogelbaum
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