Potluck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group. Synonyms include: potluck dinner, Jacob's join[1][2], Jacob's supper, faith supper, covered dish supper, pitch-in, carry-in, bring-a-plate, fuddle.
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[edit] Etymology
The word "potluck" is commonly believed to have come from English origin. It is frequently associated with Potlatch n., although it is unlikely that this played any part in the development of potluck to mean a communal meal to which those invited all bring a dish to share (OED). Others[who?] believe that the word comes of the words "pot" and "luck"; you get lucky if you get something good out of the shared pot.[citation needed]
[edit] Summary
Potluck dinners are often organized by religious or community groups, since they simplify the meal planning and distribute the costs among the participants. Smaller, more informal get-togethers with distributed food preparation may also be called potlucks. The only traditional rule is that each dish be large enough to be shared among a good portion (but not necessarily all) of the anticipated guests. In some cases each participant agrees ahead of time to bring a single course, and the result is a multi-course meal. Guests may bring in any form of food, ranging from the main course to desserts.
[edit] Variations
[edit] Safari supper
One variation is the safari supper, where a group of neighbors physically move between different houses for each part of the meal. Typically, this involves the preparation of one course only (a starter, main course or dessert, etc), and visiting different neighbors for the other courses. Although it is a little difficult to explain, and does require careful and complex planning, the idea is relatively straightforward: for example, Neighbor A makes a starter, and is visited by Neighbors B and C. After this, Neighbor A moves to a different house, Neighbor D, and is joined by Neighbor E. Neighbors B and C go on to different houses also, but not the same one. Finally, a similar pattern for dessert: Neighbor A moves to Neighbor F's house, joined by Neighbor G. This style of eating has recently become popular as a charity fund raiser in rural Britain, and is seen as a good way of meeting different neighbors in the community by virtue of each participant having 6 separate guests.
[edit] Rota
Another variation on the potluck dinner is the rota meal. Participants take turns providing food for the entire group, rather than each participant bringing a dish. For regular meals with a fairly consistent set of participants, this dramatically reduces the amount of preparation effort required.
[edit] Traveling dinner
[edit] Slideluck Potshow
Slideluck Potshow (SLPS) is a non-profit organization devoted to building and strengthening community around food and art. Founded by advertising and editorial photographer, Casey Kelbaugh, in 2000, the New York City-based organization’s events now take place in about forty cities around the world. Slideluck Potshow sponsors exhibitions of artistic works, produced in slideshow format, designed to showcase works created by both novice and established artists. At each Slideluck Potshow event, the slideshow exhibition is preceded by a potluck-style dinner during which networking and mingling among attendees is encouraged. All guests are asked to contribute as the event is entirely dependent on participation.
