I grew up hiking and camping in Hong Kong, but actually I hate hiking: I don’t see the pleasure. What I to do See the pleasure of breaking up food on top of a mountain. When it comes to picnics, there are a few rules. It has to be durable because you don’t want your food to go bad. It has to be really compact; You don’t want the picnic to take up too much space in your backpack or to weigh too much. And the food has to be very clean and simple, which makes it easy to clean up. There is no cooking involved.

The best picnic is one where you either make sandwiches or tear off pieces of bread and eat them with really tasty things that are done. The best types of bread are Focaccia and baguettebecause they are so compact; I wouldn’t wrap a ciabatta or something puffy that takes up too much space. (The other bread I sometimes take out when I really want to save space is pita.) For the picnic itself there is always something like cheese, meat, olives, and mustard, and it’s just that Trader Joe’s has many of these compact, ready-to-use items that are perfect for a camping picnic. Here is my reproach:

I prefer to eat at a picnic Spanish canned sardines. Canned seafood is stigmatized, but when seafood in its freshest form is marinated in olive oil, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and all those delicious things, it can be better than fresh. Of course there are fancier ones too, but Trader Joe’s has delicious canned seafood. There’s a brand called Cape of Penaswhich is really pretty cheery, and you can get sardines in olive oil – I think this is the best entry-level Spanish sardine. The oil that remains in the can is what you will dip in crusty bread for the rest of the picnic.

In terms of meat, every hard sausage is shelf-stable for at least the duration of your hike or picnic. The one I like is made by Columbus, a conventional brand sold at Trader Joe’s; you dried salamithat comes with two links is super, super funky. I remember smuggling sausages back from Barcelona and tasting them with conventional sausage on the side, and that’s just as delicious. The sausage is hard, so you have to bring a knife and then only shave off small corners of it.

While you’re at Trader Joe’s, packaged olives called Just a Handful of Olives Pitted salted manzanilla olives are excellent. You can also bring a handful of nuts or just choose the nuts in your trail mix. Another thing you can get from Trader Joe’s is the „Tas style” grilled artichoke hearts. They also make fried vegetables that float in garlic-herb oil wrapped in one of those vacuum-sealed plastic trays. If you use one of these trays as a starting point, this is the sausage board that you will place all of your meat and so on.

Then for cheese everyone Hard cheese Will do. I like matured and hard goat cheese very much – something different. I also really like cheddar: A really high-quality Wisconsin cheddar is always tasty and nutty. Between good bread, good cheese, canned seafood, olives and nuts, you have a deconstructed super-gourmet sausage board.

When I go to the mountains, take the train, or stop for a dunkin ‘donuts, I bring packets of mustard, mayonnaise, and jam with me; those little packets of black pepper; and Sriracha Spice packets. Starbucks has really good packets of mayonnaise and mustard. My girlfriend makes fun of me for taking them everywhere, but they are perfect for a picnic.

When I get to the picnic area, I just sit on the tree trunk or the large stones that are there and rough them up. I’m not bringing a picnic blanket. The key is to find a place that has a nice view and doesn’t have a lot of wind. This is usually the only food I take on a multi-day camping trip that isn’t dehydrated. Everything else is ready-made or food that I’ve dehydrated myself, such as jerky. This picnic always feels like a luxury.

Lucas sin, a 2019 Eater Young Gun, is the Executive Chef at Nice Day Chinese and Junzi Kitchen in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut.