The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. Because of this, as we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know. We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know fun food facts we will look at Picnics.

The Facts: No one really knows the origin of the word “picnic”? Some believe it is based on the French verb “piquer” which means to ‘pick’ or ‘peck’, with the rhyming “nique” meaning “thing of little importance”.

• A “picnic” ham is really not a true ham? It is cut from the upper part of the foreleg of a pig – a true ham is cut from the hind leg.
• Italy’s favorite picnic day is Easter Monday. It is called “Angel’s Monday” or Pasquetta (“Little Easter”).
• June 18th is International Picnic Day.
• After an ant has visited your picinc, it lays down a scent as it returns to the nest for the other ants to follow!
• In the year 2000, a 600-mile-long picnic took place in France to celebrate the first Bastille Day of the new millennium.
• The first table designed specifically for picnics (in a style similar to what we know today) appeared in the late 1800s.
• After the French Revolution in 1789, royal parks were opened to the public, and picnicking became a popular activity for the newly enfranchised citizens.
• A fashionable group of Londoners started a Picnic Society in the early 19th century. Their members were expected to share entertainment and refreshments.
• The concept of a Teddy Bear Picnic probably originated with a version of the 1907 music called Teddy Bears’ Picnic written by American composer John Walter Bratton.