# Pre-poll data gathering: Picnic snacky foods **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647 "2011-07-02T18:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/1 "2011-07-02T18:38:00Z")
My failure to mention potato salad as one of the “other” ways in… > **[What's your favorite way to eat potatoes?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=614313)** > > Simple enough… What’s your favorite way to eat potatoes? (started 06-28-2011, 06:02 PM by **Southern Yankee** ) …along with this Yahoo! item… [http://shine.yahoo.com/event/fourthofjuly/6-simple-secrets-for-perfect-velvety-deviled-eggs-2500901](http://shine.yahoo.com/event/fourthofjuly/6-simple-secrets-for-perfect-velvety-deviled-eggs-2500901) 6 simple secrets for perfect, velvety deviled eggs. …made me wonder if we could get a poll together for the types of foods and treats you would expect to have at a picnic, a July 4th outdoor party, or any other summertime feast. Add to the list and when we get 20 or so I’ll put up a poll for “favorite(s).” If such a poll already exists, just link to it and I’ll shut up. 😃 Anyway: Potato salad Deviled eggs Cream cheese and pecan sandwiches Bread and butter pickles Melon balls ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/2 "2011-07-02T18:50:25Z")
These are the things I usually see at picnics: Scotch eggs Sandwiches Tomatoes Baguettes Onion bhajis (well, they’re common here) Pork pies Tortilla Chicken drumsticks Olives Strawberries Other berries - blueberries, raspberries etc Crisps Quiche Ham Green salad Pasta salad Rice salad (Other salads too, but they’re the most common) Sausage/cheese and onion rolls Beer Cider Wine (usually white, often fizzy) Pimms Lemonade Orange juice. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/3 "2011-07-02T19:01:46Z")
Awesome list there, **SciFiSam**! I can already tell the poll will have to be for things mentioned more than once, and probably even more than that. May I suggest, along those lines, that specifics be listed for such things as: Sandwiches Crisps (same as US Potato chips? All sorts of flavors and cuts) Salads (beyond those already specified) anything else where more than one variety may apply. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/4 "2011-07-02T19:13:19Z")
Macaroni salad (distinct from pasta salad) hot dogs hamburgers fried chicken baked beans ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/5 "2011-07-03T02:44:54Z")
Cantaloupe, watermelon, and makings for s’mores. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/6 "2011-07-03T12:04:37Z")
Surely there are other outdoorsy specialties you fancy at times, beyond the ones mentioned. Home made ice cream cakes and pies (specify favorite kinds) dips casseroles something that just your family makes (you would think) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/7 "2011-07-03T12:44:36Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Surely there are other outdoorsy specialties you fancy at times, beyond the ones mentioned. > > Home made ice cream > cakes and pies (specify favorite kinds) > dips > casseroles > something that just your family makes (you would think) I don’t think of them as outdoorsy specialities. Ice-cream is only good at picnics if you eat it straight away. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/8 "2011-07-03T13:30:02Z")
Barbecue Barbecue beans Slaw > [@SciFiSam](#): > > Ice-cream is only good at picnics if you eat it straight away. I was at a community picnic once that made ice cream there, with a hand-crank machine, after everything else was eaten. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/9 "2011-07-03T13:39:32Z")
I’m going ahead and mentioning it, in spite of a thread on the same topic going nowhere last time I did: Camp stew ( [http://southern.food.com/recipe/alabama-camp-stew-44570](http://southern.food.com/recipe/alabama-camp-stew-44570) ) Brunswick stew ( [Brunswick stew - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_stew) ) Burgoo ( [Burgoo - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgoo) ) ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/10 "2011-07-03T14:14:59Z")
I usually make Confetti salad- SUPER easy & always gets rave reviews: 2 cups frozen corn, 2 cups frozen peas, 1 can French cut green beans, drained. 1 small jar pimenttos, 1/4 cup finely diced onion. Simple vinagarette dressing. SOOOO good & easy! ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/11 "2011-07-03T18:27:33Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Barbecue > Barbecue beans > Slaw > > I was at a community picnic once that made ice cream there, with a hand-crank machine, after everything else was eaten. I think is _yet another_ UK/US difference, because to me a picnic is something eaten outdoors with no cooking apparatus. Mind you, it would be cool to see someone make ice-cream on the spot - I thought it was a bit more difficult than just cranking a machine; doesn’t it require freezing? Barbeques are barbeques, not picnics. If you’re including bbqs and even casseroles (as above - and yes, I know the American definition of casserole is different) then ‘picnic food’ just means ‘food eaten outdoors,’ which is pretty much anything really. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/12 "2011-07-03T19:07:53Z")
I’m in the South, which means “barbecue” (the correct spelling) is itself a food, not a cooking method or a kind of event. I’ve seen tubs of warm barbecue packed in hampers and then eaten by people sitting on blankets in the grass, along with various other traditional picnic items as have been mentioned, so I call that a picnic. The meat wasn’t necessarily cooked on the same site. The ice cream event was actually billed as a picnic. I suppose in a city a similar event would have been called a block party. Of course ice cream making involves chilling; in that case there were some big blocks of ice cut into chunks to go into the outer chamber of the ice cream machine, mixed with salt. This particular approach to ice cream is actually best done outside where you have some place to let a stream of salt water run out. The ice and salt don’t go into the finished product, that’s just where the chilling comes from. With a non-electric model, there’s a lot of cranking to be done, so an outdoor event with a pack of children who want to help (and thereby earn their treat) is just about ideal. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/13 "2011-07-03T19:46:25Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > I’m in the South, which means “barbecue” (the correct spelling) is itself a food, not a cooking method or a kind of event. I’ve seen tubs of warm barbecue packed in hampers and then eaten by people sitting on blankets in the grass, along with various other traditional picnic items as have been mentioned, so I call that a picnic. The meat wasn’t necessarily cooked on the same site. > > The ice cream event was actually billed as a picnic. I suppose in a city a similar event would have been called a block party. > > Of course ice cream making involves chilling; in that case there were some big blocks of ice cut into chunks to go into the outer chamber of the ice cream machine, mixed with salt. This particular approach to ice cream is actually best done outside where you have some place to let a stream of salt water run out. The ice and salt don’t go into the finished product, that’s just where the chilling comes from. With a non-electric model, there’s a lot of cranking to be done, so an outdoor event with a pack of children who want to help (and thereby earn their treat) is just about ideal. I understand that bbq can be eaten cold - it was that plus another poster mentioning hotdogs and hamburgers that made me think you were including food cooked on scene. That ice-cream machine does sound very cool, no pun intended. TBF though, I don’t think it’s what you’d usually expect to see at a picnic. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/14 "2011-07-03T20:30:39Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Of course ice cream making involves chilling; in that case there were some big blocks of ice cut into chunks to go into the outer chamber of the ice cream machine, mixed with salt. This particular approach to ice cream is actually best done outside where you have some place to let a stream of salt water run out. The ice and salt don’t go into the finished product, that’s just where the chilling comes from. With a non-electric model, there’s a lot of cranking to be done, so an outdoor event with a pack of children who want to help (and thereby earn their treat) is just about ideal. At the fourth of July block party growing up, my parents would dig out the ice cream machine, and the kids would take turns cranking it to make fresh ice cream. So, yes, it actually happens just as you say! ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-gathering-picnic-snacky-foods/587647/15 "2011-07-04T02:24:32Z")
barbeque as a food takes many hours of cooking. Some people who have large outdoor house parties may put the pig on to roast the night before in an outdoor pit and then serve in the afternoon. It may also be cooked at home and taken somewhere to eat (or purchased) I can’t recall anyone ever having a family pick nick at a park or something and taking the time to prepare barbeque on site. It would be tacky to take up public property in such a manner. I would guess that preparing other meats for Barbeque would be similar. Home made ice cream made with a hand crank machine is time consuming and messy but oh so good. Since it is made on site you don’t have to have refrigeration to keep it cold, it doesn’t last long enough.