Roden’s Picnic appeared in England as Picnic (1981), then revised and retitled Everything Tastes Better Outdoors (1984). Her impetus is the belief that “There is something about fresh air and the liberating effect of nature which sharpens the appetite and heightens the quality and intensity of sensations.” 
Everything Tastes Better Outdoors (1984) is divided broadly into three sections. The first is about food prepared in the kitchen and then transported; the second is about food cooked outdoors on a backyard grill, over a campfire, or in a barbecue pit, and the third is for travelers using galley kitchens on boats or campers. An important feature is that Roden’s range is international. The point is to show the universality of picnicking from the United States to England to the Middle East, Japan to India, and Hong Kong to the Himalayas.
Roden’s first food memories are deeply indebted to her early life in Alexandria. She recalls that her favorite picnic spot was in the Agami Dunes on the Mediterranean west of Alexandria, especially on Shem en Nessem, which means “smelling the breeze” and the arrival of spring. Town dwellers go out in the country or boats, generally northward, eating out in fields or on the riverbank, smelling the air, which is thought to be particularly beneficial on the day.” Roden remembers where her family went to the dunes and hunted migrating quails that were cleaned on the spot and marinated in cumin and coriander sauce before grilled over an open fire and sandwiched in bread purchased from vendors. The meal ended with watermelon, pieces of coconut, and sweet, nutty pastries. More elaborate picnics provided opportunities for extensive preparation, most of which were done at home and transported. “The Middle Eastern Affair” suggests a huge menu, which requires staff, extensive preparation, and picnic gear. For such a picnic, you might find these foods: Blehat Samak/ Fish Rissoles, Qras Samak /Arab Fish Cake with Burghul, Brains Moroccan Style, Sanbusak/ Pies filled with meat and Pine Nuts, Meat Ajja / An Omelette, Kukye Gusht [Iranian Omelette], Kibbeh Naye [raw lamb and cracked wheat paste] Bazargan [burgul salad], Tabbouleh / Cracked Wheat Salad, Stuffed Vegetables, Stuffed Onion, Leeks Zucchini, Lemon Chicken, Lahma bil Karaz / Meatballs with Cherries, Salq bi lesbian / Spinach with Black-Eyed Beans, Lentil Tomato salad, Loubia bi Zeit / Green Beans in Olive Oil.
Roden jokes that a friend advised her that a simple meal might include “anything without a sauce, that can be easily transportable, that can be eaten cold, or that is not too difficult to heat up.” But like those who want their picnicking both ways, Roden is quick to say this advice does not “leave room for open-air gourmets” –and she enthusiastically recommends elaborate meals with a “stunning variety of foods spread out on a tablecloth or traditional woven picnic rug.
See Claudia Roden. Picnic: The Complete Guide to Outdoor Food. Illustrated by Linda Kitson. London: Jill Norman, 1981; Everything Tastes Better Outdoors. Illustrated by Alta Ann Parkins. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984, Picnic and Other Feasts. Illustrated by Linda Kitson. London: Grub Street, 1981, 2001; Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006