Translated material
How to organize a picnic?
Traditional Italian bread sticks
The St. Petersburg summer is the perfect time for picnics in city parks and outside the city. What food and wine are suitable for open air and how to choose a picturesque location?
For partnerships with LenstroyTrest , Paper spoke about this with the author of the Blog “About Peter and Travel” Katya Kotlyar, wine journalist Natasha Gladysheva and chef “Dreamers” Vitaliy Papp.
Read how to pack food correctly, why cold soups are not suitable for picnics, what non -alcoholic alternatives are the wine and where to arrange a picnic in an unusual format.
🥒 Choose simple food: fruits, berries, vegetables
Most often, cheeses, meat gastronomy, as well as bread and snacks - for example, olives are eaten on picnics. Vitaly Papp chief recommends taking light and simple food to nature: berries, fruits, chopped vegetables, pastes. In addition, positions are suitable for picnics with which you can crunch: fruit chips, crackers or grissini . But Vitaly does not advise popular cold soups in summer - they will heat up in the heat.
-In my understanding, food on a picnic is important, but still secondary. Usually you are going with friends to chat, and snacks should be a pleasant background and are needed to take your hands.
🥡 Pack food correctly and take glasses with you
For packaging food, it is better to use environmentally friendly dishes: reusable containers and glasses. You should not use plastic bags, and we recommend that you separate the snacks: put cheeses and sausages separately, bread - separately. In addition, you need to capture dishes for all guests, insignificant glasses or mugs. The author of the Blog “ About Peter and Travel ” and a large fan of picnics Katya Kotlyar advises to take another knife, board and burner (for example, you can bake Camamber on it). Special picnic baskets are not required, but with them the meal will look more stylish. “If you want a beautiful picnic, then the basket, of course, is needed,” Vitaly Papp is sure.
🍷 Take light wines with you: vigorous dry white or rose
Wine is a natural satellite of light appetizers, but here it is necessary to observe moderation, especially if you spend a picnic in hot weather. The wine expert Natasha Gladysheva advises first of all white wines-for example, dry from the variety of ovignon Blanc, Vermentino from Italy or bird step (if the budget allows). Half -same white are also suitable: Riesling, Gevürztraminer, Malvasia from Apulia or Australia. Thanks to the balance of acid and restrained sweets, they are perfectly combined with different foods-from pastes and springs rolls to fruits and not very sugary desserts. Light and not very tart are suitable from red wines: Italian Chanti and Valpolichella, as well as the Austrian Zweigelt.
- Pink is also a very good option. They are brilliantly combined with food, and you can buy at least Provence, at least Rio, even Vignyu Verde. But do not take anything complicated on the picnic: the conditions for tasting are not the same, from the plastic or paper cup, the aroma is still almost not felt.
🥤 Do not forget about non -alcoholic alternatives - for example, about the combination
In any case, the wine on the picnic should be supplemented with other drinks: water, juice or lemonade. If desired, it can be replaced with a low alcohol sidr, and another completely non -alcoholic alternative can be a cold comable. Drip coffee can be useful, but for brewing you will have to take boiling water in the thermos.
🥂 Cool drinks
Any drinks should be well cooled before the trip. So that they do not heat up on the way, the bottles can be wrapped in thermal packets (you can purchase them on the Internet). “Cool drinks are a divine nectar, and a completely different wib from a picnic,” says wine expert Natasha Gladysheva.
🌆 Choose beautiful and picturesque places
For picnics, it is best to choose parks with trees (the shadow from them will protect you from the sun) and other picturesque places - for example, locations with a view of the water. The blogger Katya Kotlyar listed several places with beautiful views at sunset: Krestovsky Island, Petrovskaya Sick, a beach near the ZSD on Vasilyevsky Island, Voskresenskaya embankment. In addition, you can use the advice of the “Paper” : this material lists the places for picnics by the water, and here you will find ideas for suburban trips.
🧙 Try unusual picnic formats
The townspeople are increasingly trying non-banal picnic concepts-for example, SAP riding. Such measures are satisfied, for example, the Supexpedition community: Sapes are linked and tied to a riot, and passing and coffee is transmitted to the oars. The interlocutor of “Paper” Katya Kotlyar also tried to organize such a picnic, but for her the format was not very convenient: “It was a little scary that the basket would fall into the water.”
- I sometimes arrange bicycles. Food is the best motivation to go outside and take a bicycle. A couple of times they arranged a bike incident before working on Elagin. Everyone liked it.
🚚 If you want to save time, you can order picnic sets in many St. Petersburg institutions
Many St. Petersburg establishments deliver ready -made and collected picnic boxes: such sets are in “ Dreamers ” and Italy restaurants , and in the “pasture” tour they sell several similar sets . Cheese plates can be ordered in the “ Gedonist ” salon, tapas sites in “ seasons ”, and in delivery from the Vasileostrovsky market, buyers will find all the necessary products: from cheeses to fish gastronomy.
📚 Prepare for a picnic in advance
The picnic can be organized spontaneously, but it is better to prepare for the event - so, you can watch a video about picnic etiquette from the Tatyana Polyakova etiquette project. It refers to the right baskets, appropriate dress code, choosing a location and ideas for a picnic from paintings by famous artists. In addition, it is worth reading the guides of “Papers” about the best suburban directions.
If there is a suitable place near the house or office, you can go to the picnic right in the middle of the working day. For example, in the low -rise Finnish quarter “ Yutteri ” , which is building our partner , LenstroyTrest , in the courtyards, recreation areas are provided and there are no cars. Here you can arrange a picnic in a quiet gazebo or sit on the grass. UTERI is located in the Kolpino district of St. Petersburg 16 kilometers from the KAD. The houses in the quarter do not exceed five floors, the parking is located outside the yards, and a kindergarten in the form of a castle is already working on the territory and a school will soon appear.
Photo on the cover: Katya Kotlyar