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How to picnic

By Emily Brookes FOOD EDITOR

Ihave a confession to make: I'm not a great fan of picnics. I like the idea of a picnic. I have a romantic fantasy, probably founded in watching too many Merchant Ivory films, of myself in a beautiful summer dress with a becoming straw hat, seated gracefully on a large blanket, daintily nibbling perfectly trimmed sandwiches and sipping Champagne.

In reality, the sandwiches are always soggy, the salads are limp, and my middle-aged muscles cramp from sitting cross-legged, we're constantly scrambling to find heavy things to stop the wind from whipping up the blanket and everything on it, wasps are circling menacingly, and we all forget a corkscrew.

Beach picnics are, in my view, even worse. They have all of the above, plus sand.

Not that picnics don't have anything going for them. On a purely practical level, if you're out for the day as a family, bringing along your own food is cheaper than buying lunch.

On the right kind of day, sitting outside can be very pleasant. If there are kids in your party, the adults can eat in a somewhat leisurely fashion while supervising their little ones play and, if not, the adults can eat in a truly leisurely fashion without worrying about taking up space at a restaurant table.

So, in the past few years, I have looked for ways to make the picnic experience more enjoyable, and I have discovered that my local council has done a lot of the heavy lifting for me.

I have been surprised to discover how many local parks and playgrounds are equipped with barbecues. These are free (or paid for through our taxes, which is an excellent use of those funds, in my opinion), and are extremely easy to use. You just press a button.

These barbecues are typically placed near picnic tables, so that all you need to enjoy a family lunch is a pack of sausages, a loaf of bread, cooking oil, tomato sauce, a set of tongs, and some paper towels for cleaning.

If you want to get creative, check out this week's cover story for some tips on what you can throw on the barbie. I'm keen to try the chicken hearts.

And if you want to make a whole meal of it, you can throw a potato or pasta salad and some fruit in a chilly bin, and find some space for cold drinks (but go for cans rather than bottles).

That's where you will find me picnicking this summer. I shall be seated at a table, eating food that is hot. It will be like eating inside, only outside.

Councils may come in for an ear-bashing, but these municipal barbecues make my summer.

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2021-10-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

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