The Art of Picnic

With the fall season here and the summer finished so is the season of picnic.  In hindsight, I come to the following realization: Doing a picnic is not only seasonal but cultural.
Every summer Central Park in NYC gets full with thousands of people doing picnics.  You gather with a group of friends in the park for a chill out afternoon of food and even games.  The menu tends to be always quite the same: you have the inevitable hummus (which everyone thinks for some reason that they are the only ones bringing it and then you end up with 20 of them in the blanket),  fruits, cookies, salad, peanuts, cheese....all of this paired with a nice wine (usually white 'cause of the heat).


 *Side note for cheese: Cheese during a picnic is an interesting topic since this is the one item that defines and categorizes people.  Some people will bring Gouda, Goat, Brie (this are the ones that actually know and enjoy real cheese) and then you have the ones that buy the cubed cheddar that comes on the box with the pre-cut ham from Kraft (the one that you eat at kids parties with a toothpick..that one)! Needless to say that the ones that bring the Kraft ones never eat their own cheese but the Brie...


For me doing a picnic was a learned thing since growing in PR we never do.  The idea of me grabbing a blanket and going to eat in a park in PR was very farfetched.  I would like to see my friends face if I even make such a suggestion.  I believe it is because our equivalent for this kinda of activity is the beach.  When we go to the beach, we "picnic" in the sand.  Usually with games, music and beer as the alcoholic drink of choice (also because of the extreme heat).  The closest in PR that I've been to a "picnic" it's a kid's birthday in the park but there is usually a gazebo that is used.  Again, the idea of me sitting on the grass where dogs most likely poo is unheard of.

A picnic was something that I grew watching in movies believing that it was also one of Hollywood's biggest lies.  I couldn't believe who will actually grab a basket and a blanket and actually do this.  It makes me wonder, are places with a nearby beach like PR, Miami, LA not into doing picnics at all?  Is it a cultural thing?  What do you think?