NancyM's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
Good Day for a Picnic: Simple Food That Travels Well
By Jeremy Jackson
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2005
This book, according to Jackson is "about picnics that require no grills and no cooking at the picnic site. In other words, all the work is done beforehand...." Unfortunately, I found that the recipes didn't always fit this definition well. They either need last minute preparations or don't transport well or their taste or texture would suffer with extended storage time: Crepes Stuffed with Chard, Feta, Pine Nuts, and Golden Raisins; Substantial Cornbread Salad; Spicy Chai Ice Cream and Perfect Peach Ice Cream might be a challenge to transport but he does give suggestions on how to wrap it or to churn it on-site; Zucchini Fritters.
He also describes his food as "...food that my grandparents and great-grandparents would have enjoyed and not have been puzzled by." Hmmm. Well, I can see my grandparents enjoying and not being puzzled by much of the food in the book, but I think they might have found Chilled Avocado and Cucumber Soup puzzling as I don't think they'd ever seen an avocado nor eaten cold soups.
Packaging and transportion information on individual recipes is very noticeably absent on most recipes. This book could have been much more suited to picnic-style eating and entertaining if ideas and suggestions were given about how to package more of the foods. He does, however, include at what temperature each recipe can be served, hot, warm or cold. This is very helpful.
So, would I recommend this book as a good picnic book? Well, no. But if your idea of a good picnic is to cook in your kitchen and then bring the food out to the patio for a meal, it's well-suited for that.
Would I recommend it as a good cookbook for those looking for interesting recipes? Definitely. One of the reasons I like this book is that it isn't the same old fried chicken, potato salad and deviled eggs collection of recipes.
And I'd also recommend it as a good read for armchair cooks. Jackson's introduction and history of outdoor eating is well-researched and entertainingly written. From the introduction: "Picnics used to be the norm. Really. Think about it. Didn't our ancestors all eat outdoors? I don't mean our great-great-grandparents. I mean our biological ancestors---monkeys and whatnot---nibbling on berries. Or, to look at it another way, didn't Adam and Eve enjoy the fruits of Eden outdoors? When God booted them out of the garden, I think it's fair to summarize his message to them in this way: 'All right guys, Picnic's over.'"