What lovelier way to enjoy summer (when it stops raining!) than by sharing a picnic with friends and family? 

The history of the picnic dates back to the 14th century when medieval feasts were held outside before hunting.  The name comes from the French piquenique, an informal meal eaten in the open air.  The main foods were hams, baked meats and pastries.  Picknicking really came into its own during the Victorian era: Dickens, Trollope and Jane Austen all write about picnics in their novels. 

Sandwiches are now an important element of any picnic – hence the expression ‘two sandwiches short of a picnic’.  The story goes that, in the 18th century, the 4th Earl of Sandwich wanted a meal that he could eat easily without leaving the gambling table – he requested a slice of cold roast beef between two pieces of toast and the sandwich was born!

Scotch Eggs are classic picnic fare, but despite their name, the London store Fortnum and Mason claims to have invented the British snack in the early 1740s. 

For simple, delicious picnics we recommend: new season British lamb chops (easy to eat in fingers), regional sausages (every area of Britain has a particular speciality), Coronation Chicken (invented for the Queen’s Coronation lunch in 1953), Eton Mess (the perfect picnic pudding as it is easy to transport the separate ingredients - thick cream, crushed meringue and as many Summer berries as you can find - and assemble them on site) and finishing with one of the 700 cheeses produced in Britain (yes, we produce more than in France!).

For more picnic ideas and to see which seasonal fruits and vegetables are currently available in the supermarkets, please click on the Want to buy British logo on the top right hand corner of this page.