Cold fried chicken served outdoors on a red-checkered tablecloth¹ is the essence of picnic nostalgia²（乡愁） in the US. Because fried chicken keeps well and is just as delicious cold as it is hot, it's ideal for picnic situations。

 

Chicken also appears on picnic menus in other forms. You could enjoy a chicken salad, creamed chicken, or even chicken soup in a thermos³ for picnics on colder days。

 

 

The classic American dish shows up on picnic menus quite often. And it's easy to make and reinvent, because mashed⁴ potatoes go with different kinds of dressings⁶. Besides the traditional mayonnaise（蛋黄酱） dressing⁵, you can also dress it with oil and vinegar, bacon ranch⁷ or sour cream（酸奶油）。

 

Serve with watermelon and chocolate brownies, and you've got yourself a top-notch picnic。

 

 

French people like keeping it simple, so fruit and cheese are quite common at picnics. Due to the picnic conditions (often in hotweather), hard cheeses tend to fare better.

 

A few tasty combinations: Cheddar and apples (sprinkle theapples with lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown), watermelon and feta, ripe figs⁸ and blue cheese, tomatoes andmozzarella, or ricotta and grapes. Pack fruit and cheese separately to keep the flavors fresh。

 

 

The Scotch egg, a staple¹⁰ at traditional British picnics, iseasily eaten as a finger food. It's made by boiling an egg,encasing it in sausage meat, rolling it in breadcrumbs and then deep-frying it. Keep the Scotch eggs in the refrigerator, ready tobe served cold at your picnic.

 

There are many variations on this classic food, such as using duck or quail¹¹（鹌鹑） eggs and different types or flavors of sausage。

 

 

In a country known for its abundance of seafood¹³, a picnic wouldn't be complete without a seafood dish. Prawn salad, which is easy to make, keep and eat, naturally goes on the list.

 

Just boil a handful of prawns¹⁴, remove the shells and mix themwith salad vegetables such as lettuce¹⁵, spinach¹⁶, olives and onions. A simple seasoning¹⁷ of salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice adds the final touch.

 

 

Japanese people love sashimi（生鱼片） and noodles. Since sashimi isn'teasy to keep fresh, a simple dish of sesame noodles is a favorite at picnics. It's versatile¹⁸, too, as you can vary the vegetablesaccording to the season -- snow peas, roasted peppers, grilled¹⁹ eggplant, julienned carrots, bean sprouts²⁰, and fresh or dried mushrooms all work great.