This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
With the arrival of fine weather, we begin to dream of meals with our feet in the grass and small glasses of rosé in the sun. Picnic season is fast approaching! Take out your blankets and your wicker basket. Direction: the park.
Culinary historian Amélie Masson-Labonté recently conducted a study for the Montreal Office of Gastronomy. She identified six key elements that sign the culinary identity of the city. Among them: the picnic, a ritual beloved by Montrealers for a long time. “I realized that it was a practice really rooted in time. I found references to the XIXe century, when it was a form of vacationing on the island of Montreal, especially for the wealthy,” explains the historian. “In particular, we went to the hunting clubs on the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges coast – today Côte-des-Neiges – or at La Fontaine park to picnic and even hunt too. »
But the picnic is not necessarily reserved for the wealthy. “Several companies, at the time of the industrial revolution, organized picnics as a celebration for their employees and their families, specifies Amélie Masson-Labonté. In the 1930s, there are archival photos of vacationers picnicking along the Rivière des Prairies. The picnic already took on at that time the popular and unifying dimension that it retains today, as evidenced by the crowded parks on summer Saturdays, a trend that has become even more entrenched with the pandemic restrictions.
The street is ours!
“These days, the importance of picnics is still something very special in Montreal,” says Amélie Masson-Labonté. This is part of a larger whole: I notice that Montrealers have a very strong appropriation of urban space. »
The latter is also embodied in particular in the sidewalk eateries – these street corner bins where vegetables and herbs are grown and accessible for picking – or even in the summer pedestrianization of certain avenues, which then become veritable open-air canteens. Not to mention the festivals that punctuate the summer, including the Piknic Electronik, where street trucks take turns to entertain the dancing festival-goers. “Picnics are a bit of a catch-all term, but generally speaking, Montrealers simply love to eat outside, whether in the street, on Mount Royal or on the terrace, where they rush to first rays of spring sunshine,” explains the historian.
A pleasure for all
Eating outside is also an opportunity to tear down certain walls that are less visible than those in our dining rooms. Laying your tablecloth in the grass in the neighborhood park is the great equalizer, accessible to all and without entrance fee. A stroll through Montreal’s green spaces confirms the popularity of picnics: here, a children’s party; there, a group of young adults having a drink; a little further on, a large family of newcomers is grilling skewers on a portable grill and a lone eater takes the opportunity to take a nap in the sun.
The unifying character of the outdoor meal also makes it an opportunity for group meetings. Many organizations offer their members the opportunity to meet under the sun for a moment of food, cultural or educational sharing — libraries and museums, community groups or mutual aid and hospitality organizations take advantage of the accessible and festive nature of the picnic. picnic to break the isolation or forge new ties within his neighborhood.
A tourist attraction
Amélie Masson-Labonté has also suggested to the Montreal Office of Gastronomy to bet on the accessible and unifying nature of the picnic to seduce a tourist clientele looking for immersion in the daily life of Montrealers. “We could offer a turnkey experience, for example, in partnership with certain restaurants that would offer take-out baskets,” she suggests. A formula that some establishments already offer to their customers, local or not. In Little Italy, the Dinette Triple Crown, one of the oldest in the field, has been ready for more than ten years with baskets, checkered tablecloths and utensils to enjoy fried chicken and its accompaniments al fresco. Dozens of other addresses have since followed suit, all over the island. Some even offer delivery to the nearby park! What a change from the macaroni salad.
A few places to lay your tablecloth… in Montreal or elsewhere
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.