Taste Globally, Picnic Locally

To assemble a Greek-inspired picnic on your own, Golden Grains Greek Deli and Bakery is one of those places that makes you ask yourself: Why cook anything? Ele Fteria, Golden Grains' owner, will hover over the stove for you, producing an incredibly long and bounteous menu - every item a winner. Her style could be called neo-Greek; it's lighter and more inventive than that at your basic neighborhood gyros shop. Stuffed tomatoes, pastitsio, moussaka, dolmades, and dozens of fabulous pita- and lavash-based sandwiches: roast lamb, red roasted pepper . . . Open a Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. 102 Via Valencia, Redondo Beach; (310) 375-0880.

Even if you aren't up to roasting one of the whole lambs that C & K Importing stocks - even if you don't cook at all - this old-time Greek deli can see you through a hundred grassy picnics. Basic staples: half a dozen olive varieties, sheep's-milk feta, frozen cheese, and spinach filo pastries to bake easily at home. Next door, in the cafe, juicy, garlicky chickens turn on a spit, gyros and kebabs make up the sandwiches - or can be served without bread on a dinner plate with lemony Greek potatoes and salad. Back in the shop, peruse the phylo desserts and Greek-style cookies that taste so good with strong, chewy coffee. Open Tues.-Sat. 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 2771 W. Pico Blvd.; (323) 737-2970.

SRI LANKAN

Almost every Saturday and Sunday at Woodley Avenue Park in Van Nuys, a proper English cricket game is played in all its customary slow-motion elegance by the Century Sports Club, a group of men from Sri Lanka. Watching them dressed in their whites is like meandering into a Merchant-Ivory film - you half expect Helena Bonham-Carter to drift across the lawn.

A cricket match is one of those languorous all-day affairs, so of course the men have time to stop for tea - and such savory snacks as sausage rolls, godamba (curry-stuffed bread), naan bread, Sri Lankan hot sambol, seeni sambol (a peppery hot onion relish in a bun) and string hoppers to eat with canned curries from Sri Lanka, all sold at Sri Lankan Delight. Open Tues.-Sun. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. 19016 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana; (818) 774-1237.

KOREAN

A different mood prevails at Korean Soccer Club tournaments. Koreans have caught soccer mania with a vengeance, and they've formed teams for every age group in various regions around the city. For the league playoffs and other "important" holidays, Koreans organize barbecue picnics - potluck affairs with team members each bringing a separate part of the meal. They barbecue kalbi (marinated beef ribs) and pulgogi (marinated, thinly sliced meat) and possibly a whole fish. Appointed members bring along rice cookers filled with cooked rice; others bring stacks of washed lettuce leaves to use for wrapping up pieces of meat and rice, burrito fashion. Still others bring panchan, those intensely flavored vegetable side dishes that can be almost anything from black soybeans cooked in sugar to chili peppers in hot chile sauce. (Some panchan cooks gain reputations for certain dishes, just as someone might have a pie or chicken recipe everyone loves.)

Such meals are "actually a departure from the traditional Korean picnic," says Torrance resident Seung-Hae Song, because in Korea meat is much more expensive and recreational outdoor grilling facilities are scarce. Traditional Korean picnics were always packed into a dosirak, a sort of bento box divided into compartments (available at Kim's Appliances, 2940 W. Olympic Blvd., Koreatown; 213-386-4882). Large portions of rice come with many small portions of flavored vegetables, or small dollops of dried or pickled fish, to give the rice flavor. One lunch-box favorite, kim bap - which is easy to find in L.A. Korean markets - looks like a sushi roll with nori on the outside. But instead of fish, the filling is matchstick-cut beef (or tofu or egg). Kim bap has the same appeal in Korea as the hot dog does here.

Koreans tend to appreciate the well-tended public spaces here. "In Korea, public parks don't have free areas with charcoal grills and soccer fields," Bum-Shon, of the L.A. Bong Hwa Korean Soccer Association, says enthusiastically. His group uses any holiday as an excuse to put on a giant picnic and barbecue. Upcoming is Korean Liberation Day, August 15, at Cerritos Regional County Park, commemorating the formation of the Korean republic in 1948. Last year, on March 1, the Korean Times sponsored Samiljol, celebrating the independence movement against Japanese colonial rule by erecting huge, white, tentlike structures to shade tables as the eating and games continued throughout the day. Similar events are usually sponsored by churches, or by the more than 200 Korean university and high school alumni associations in L.A.

Go straight to the deli case with the curved windows at Koreatown Plaza Market for a full picnic spread: ready-to-cook marinated beef ribs and the thinner-cut pulgogi; dozens of hot and mild vegetable side dishes; a whole world of kimchees. Try the fast-food court in the mall outside the market for Korean sushi (kim bap) and other picnic snacks. Open Sun.-Sat. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. 928 S. Western Ave., No. 100; (213) 385-1100.