How to Have a Victorian Picnic
"A series of staccato taps on the west window brought Anne flying in from the yard, eyes shining, cheeks faintly flushed with pink, unbraided hair streaming behind her in a torrent of brightness.
“Oh, Marilla," she exclaimed breathlessly, "there's going to be a Sunday-school picnic next week--in Mr. Harmon Andrews's field, right near the lake of Shining Waters. And Mrs. Superintendent Bell and Mrs. Rachel Lynde are going to make ice cream--think of it, Marilla--ice cream! And, oh, Marilla, can I go to it?”
The history of picnicking is a lengthy one. The activity of eating outdoors surrounded by company rather than indoors at a table is one that, historically, many might imagine a medieval encampment surrounded by a fire. Though many other, when they hear the word picnic, would envision a lovely woven picnic basket, a checkered cloth, and little black ants crawling across the watermelon slices. The Victorians created the height of the picnic popularity in the mid 19th Century, creating a cultural phenomenon that would lead to the art of outdoor eating being featured in literature, paintings, landscape design, and other societal features during the era.
Pic Nick in the Woods of New England c 1855 by Jerome B Thompson (1814-1886)
how the picnic came to be:
As stated earlier, eating outdoors is not a new concept. However, the idea of the picnic itself was something that came more into fashion during the mid to late 18th century. The first picnics were meant for socializing, a place where a group of likeminded individuals could galavant amongst nature, playing cards or other social games, and usually drinking alcohol. By 1810, the picnic often included a meal or a sweet treat, and by 1830 it had become a nostalgic social event with a full course dinner.
How did this happen? As the Industrial Revolution took place, many working class people felt as if the cities growing rapidly around them were closing in. As a way to get away from over crowdedness of the city, working and middle class peoples would venture out to the countryside to get fresh air and settle their minds. Does this sound familiar at all? I feel that, in many ways, this is something that we still crave as the mental health crisis heightens and the usage of screens takes up almost our entire working and social lives.
To make picnicking more accessible, the addition of nature parks to urban areas became quite popular as well as the construction of “picnic groves.” These areas had trees and landscaping as well as benches and tables made to last for years and years in a permanent spot.
The Picnic 1846 by Thomas Cole (1801-1848)
picnics in art & literature:
During the 19th century, many artists included picnics into their work. As we are currently living nearly 200 years in the future from this popular pastime, it is easy to feel that this is captured in literature and paintings of the Victorian era as a way to capture the nostalgia. On the contrary, this style of entertainment and socializing was included because of its newness and excitement. The picnic was a way to let go of the restraining elements of social dining etiquette that you may experience inside of someone’s home. There was, however, etiquette for picnicking. This was just not necessarily the same as eating at the dining table.
You can see a perfect period accurate description of the picnic in Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women published in 1868. In the chapter, Laurie invites the March sisters for a picnic with some visiting English friends. The night before, the girls all prepare themselves with much dedication including Meg curling her bangs with curl papers, Jo coating her face in cold cream to ease her complexion (perhaps some teenage acne?), Beth sleeping with doll, Joanna, so that she does not become too lonely while she is away, and Amy putting a clothespin on her nose to make sure that it looks small for the day of frivolities.
Here is an excerpt from the book:
"Time for lunch," said Mr. Brooke, looking at his watch. "Commissary general, will you make the fire and get water, while Miss March, Miss Sallie, and I spread the table? Who can make good coffee?"
"Jo can," said Meg, glad to recommend her sister. So Jo, feeling that her late lessons in cookery were to do her honor, went to preside over the coffeepot, while the children collected dry sticks, and the boys made a fire and got water from a spring near by. Miss Kate sketched and Frank talked to Beth, who was making little mats of braided rushes to serve as plates.
The commander in chief and his aides soon spread the tablecloth with an inviting array of eatables and drinkables, prettily decorated with green leaves. Jo announced that the coffee was ready, and everyone settled themselves to a hearty meal, for youth is seldom dyspeptic, and exercise develops wholesome appetites. A very merry lunch it was, for everything seemed fresh and funny, and frequent peals of laughter startled a venerable horse who fed near by. There was a pleasing inequality in the table, which produced many mishaps to cups and plates, acorns dropped in the milk, little black ants partook of the refreshments without being invited, and fuzzy caterpillars swung down from the tree to see what was going on. Three white-headed children peeped over the fence, and an objectionable dog barked at them from the other side of the river with all his might and main.”
proper picnicking supplies:
The first staple of any picnic, even in the Victorian era, would have been the picnic blanket. Some picnic groves included pre-built tables and other tables were invented during the late 18th century to be foldable and easily carried. Foldable chairs were also invented to be carried in wagons. For your own Victorian picnic, I would suggest a lovely quilt that you don’t mind getting a bit dirty! I found this handmade quilt at a thrift shop about two years ago for around $15. It has some disrepair that I figured I would eventually fix myself. Instead, I like to use it for our outdoor excursions!
The next supply you would want is a picnic basket. In 1881, the first insulated picnic basket was invented by Conroy, Bissett, & Malleson. It was lined with tin and boiler-felt, which was an insulator made of felted matted hair used to wrap around boiler and steam-pipes. The basket itself had an airtight lid and was advertised to be able to keep meat, fish, butter, and other perishable food cold for hours. This was quite the revolutionary product! It was also lovely for hot foods that needed to be kept warm during the winter.
During the 19th century, dinnerware was not necessarily something that was brought along. It was too fragile and difficult to manage, similar to how we feel today. For the average person, a napkin or hanky would suffice. For those of the upper class, it might be more believable that plates and tableware would be brought along. I did read that by 1912 the first disposable plates were invented and were made from cardboard!
If it is a particularly sunny day, women and men alike may want to bring along a hat such a leghorn, which had an awfully large brim. A parasol would also be well received.
a victorian picnic menu:
Now to learn about the fun part! What exactly would have been eaten at a Victorian picnic? We can actually find lots of information about this both in popular cookbooks or housekeeping books of the time like Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, 1896 by Fannie Merritt Farmer, Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1861 by Isabella Beeton, and Queen of the Household, 1900 by M.W. Ellsworth. Other places to find the types of foods that were deemed appropriate for picnicking can be seen in art and popular books. I have found that L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series is a wonderful example of types of foods that might have been present, as Anne does love a good picnic or afternoon tea!
sandwiches:
Sandwiches were the most popular suggestion and choice for picnicking as finger foods were of dire importance (you know, because of the whole no dinnerware thing). The Victorians were, however, obsessed with presentation and aesthetics so the sandwiches were to be wrapped prettily in paper and tied with twine or ribbon. Prettier sandwiches were made with compound butters using edible flowers like roses or violets and often watercress was the popular choice for filling. Here are some sandwich examples:
Salted meat with watercress, lettuce, or sliced celery
Chicken salad or salmon salad
Grated Cheese mixed with cream cheese or sour cream and chopped nuts
Chestnuts or walnuts with cream cheese or butter
Sliced fresh ginger
Cucumber with mint or mint compound butter
Plain bread and butter - where the compound butter would be nice!
Meats:
In the cookbooks and household books of the time, meat was still highly regarded as a picnic food. Usually this meant cold meats, like boiled beef or lamb. Other suggestions would be cold roast beef or roasted fowl like duck or goose.
Based on my research of 19th century meats, I cannot imagine that these would be all that flavorful. I would probably just combine these into a sandwich as well!
Refreshments:
Seeing as water was still believed to be the worst drink imaginable to consume, the popular drinks of choice to bring along would be ale or cider, ginger-beer, soda-water, and lemonade. This was due to the fact that clean water was difficult to come by and it was safer to consume alcoholic beverages.
Lemonade was a great choice to bring and it would be made on site at the picnic grove. The lemon juice and a sugar syrup would be packed in bottles and combined with water at the site. Tea was another popular drink to bring along as it would be easy to make. Coffee, however, was believed to be too difficult to brew and was left behind altogether. I find it interesting that this is suggested by Mrs. Beeton but coffee is the main focus of Alcott’s picnic scene in Little Women. I personally love making campfire coffee, so I had to look up when the first percolating coffee maker was invented. It was apparently invented in 1889.
desserts:
The best part of any meal is the desserts, is it not? There were all kinds of ideas for desserts at a Victorian picnic! In Anne’s world, this would have included pound cake or jam and scones. Other acceptable sweets would be fruit turnovers, jam tarts, cheesecakes, jam puffs, fruit cake, sponge cake, gingerbread, shortbread cookies, donuts, and pastries. The most popular choice that I saw was for blancmange, which is a cold pudding made with gelatin and shaped into individual portions. Another suggestion was ice cream or sherbet, which I feel would be difficult to manage without an ice box. Perhaps people were clever with how they packed this!
What do you say? Does a Victorian style picnic sound like fun to you? I feel that it really does not differ much from our picnics today, and there is still a great sense of nostalgia when thinking about packing up the basket and heading out for a light meal on the lawn. I do often find myself, when I picture what a picnic should look like in my head, romanticizing the 19th century. I think of images from Little Bear.
I have never really enjoyed the modern picnic ware with plastic plates and cups; I find that this version really suits my needs for the look of everything while also downsizing on the dishes that have to be brought along. Indeed, I often arrange picnics under the apple trees on our farm after we have spent most of the day playing outside in the garden or in the sprinkler. It is so much easier to eat lunch with small dirty, rascally children outside than to wash everyone up and eat at the dining room. For this spring and summer, we have decided that we would much prefer to enjoy a majority of our meals outside, and so we have! It has been great fun.
For some ideas on what to bring to your own Victorian picnic, we have shared an ebook filled with a few recipes! You can also get access to the recipes and videos by joining our Patreon.
xoxo Kayla
