Vanderbilt doesn’t care whether you cook out at a picnic or bring everything along.
What does matter is to picnic in temperate weather and a style. Her recommendations in the Complete Book of Etiquette are tried and true cold fried chicken, little cold veal or English ham pies, chicken, or potato salad. If you pack in a thermos, she suggests, fill it with spaghetti with mushrooms and chicken livers, baked beans, or fish chowder.
For an alfresco dinner requiring tables and chairs, she offers, “While the old standbys of hot dogs and hamburgers are perfectly acceptable at a picnic, guests are usually grateful, especially if it’s a picnic supper.” If you have a fire and the will to do it, Vanderbilt recommends charcoal-broiled steak, baked or fried potatoes with onions, charcoal-broiled chicken, or spareribs, southern style.
Nothing is mentioned here about drinks, soft or alcoholic, though elsewhere, there is extensive discussion in “The Ritual of Drinking.”
Featured Image: Amy Vanderbilt. Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Book of Etiquette; A Guide to Gracious Living. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1952
See Amy Vanderbilt. Complete Book of Etiquette. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1952