Potluck Parties

Every now and then you come across invitation for potluck parties. It is very common in United States because of hectic work week and catch up over the weekends. One does not have to cook everything so all the invitees bring one pr two dish and enjoy the party. Let us share our experience (pluses and minuses) to enjoy this topic. I am sure everybody must have had good or bad experiences in the past. Please include your opinion either in favor or agaist the potluck.

O Potluck parties are fun things!

My grandmom's two brothers' families and my grandparents all live in radius of 5 miles from each other. So, they have this unofficial potluck parties all the time. One of the mamis is very cunning though... They have a mansion, so all these gatherings are at their place. So, she would call in the morning and would just delegate the hard tasks to the other two families and will end up cooking rice... Now once someone just tells you, you can not go back and say that no, I would rather bring this or that...

Oh well, it works out well though! Wo rice banaye wo hi acha baki sabke liye 😛

JBJ good topic something different 😃 Welcome to DM. I am DB-Varsha. Nice to meet you 😃

I usually host dinners at my home be it formal or casual and have never done POT LUCK for say. My friends have offered me many times but I yet have not come around in asking people to bring stuff. There is nothing wrong with Pot lucks since it provides luxury of getting together more often and less work for all or mainly the host.

I am up for either hosting on my own or pot luck no problem as long as I get to meet family-friends and have fun 😃

@ Rutu I am glad your family-relatives get together casually like that. Even about the Mami with big Mansion 😉 of hers just remember she opens her home for rest to enjoy even though she only makes rice 😳. Not many even would open their homes to people thinking it will get dirty and what not since it is so called "Mansion" IMHO 😃

Originally posted by: Dabulls23

I usually host dinners at my home be it formal or casual and have never done POT LUCK for say. My friends have offered me many times but I yet have not come around in asking people to bring stuff. There is nothing wrong with Pot lucks since it provides luxury of getting together more often and less work for all or mainly the host.

I agree ... There is nothing lucky about potluck..!!!! You never know what kind of biryani someone is going to bring..😕 It is hit or miss and mostly miss type of dish...

But yeah bringing a good dessert is always good.😛 because if I don't like a dessert someone brings, I can always open up Haagen Daz' baileys irish ice cream...ummm...

I havent been to many potluck parties myself. Dont think it works a lot in London. But what I do love is what my parents and their friend circle started a few years ago.

One of the convenient weekends, all the men get together in one house n cook for everyone that nite and next weekend the women do the same!

lol What I used to love n still do, is to be in that house where my papa n uncles are cooking! The chaos that goes on in the kitchen and the fiasco that follows ...everyone laugh their stomachsz out and fortunately, most of the dishes are bearable 😆 Its a good change for ladies, cus they sit out in the living room eating drinking and gossiping 😛 while their hubbies cook inside...aww thats a cute scene lemme tell you that! 😆

i absolutely LOVE potlucks! not only does it lessen the load on the host but you also get to try out so many different dishes.

at work we have a ladies night every month where we get together at someone's house. and all of my co-workers are non-indian so everytime they only want me to bring butter chicken or samosas. 😆

the only downside i can see is if one's dish is not touched at all. that might make the person feel a little bad.

nice and different topic JBJ and welcome to DM.

Originally posted by: sohn

I havent been to many potluck parties myself. Dont think it works a lot in London. But what I do love is what my parents and their friend circle started a few years ago.

One of the convenient weekends, all the men get together in one house n cook for everyone that nite and next weekend the women do the same!

lol What I used to love n still do, is to be in that house where my papa n uncles are cooking! The chaos that goes on in the kitchen and the fiasco that follows ...everyone laugh their stomachsz out and fortunately, most of the dishes are bearable 😆 Its a good change for ladies, cus they sit out in the living room eating drinking and gossiping 😛 while their hubbies cook inside...aww thats a cute scene lemme tell you that! 😆

awwwww, what a wonderful idea! seems like such a great time.

😆 Alright LM.. I'll be sure to bring that when I'm invited over 😉

Our circle of friends must on the unique side of things 😆 We do things a little differently, possibly because we've got my dad as the party hitler with hi organizing and everything 😆

Potlucks are truly a hit and miss thing. The chance of mix-matching food is always a danger. We once had someone bring in a mushroom dish to a predominantly Indian food potluck. However, while it didn't quite fit, the was very delicious and in future parties we asked for repeats. 😃

Since, our potlucks have evolved into a more organized custom. The person initiating the party creates a spread sheet with the theme clearly labeled and a few options listed. Then the individual families "sign up" for a dish or two. There is also scope for a little addition and experimentation (since you have the menu theme) and potlucks are a great time to try out new dishes with the group. (Please do an experimental run in your household first 😆). Email is great in facilitating all of this. By party time everyone knows what he/she is bringing to the party and the only surprises are the extras (because of course the ladies want to show off a new dish or dessert 😆).

Of course this only works with an established circle of friends. If it's a potluck with a new addition or a family that isn't a regular member of your party circuit, you better hope for something good and have something better in the fridge in reserve 😉😆

I'm all for potlucks... you get a chance to taste everyone's cooking and if someone within the group doesn't have time to host a party of their own, they've contributed to others and it still works out (especially in grandparent-visiting season 😆).

Sohn..great tradition. Only once have the men actually cooked (khichdi can you believe it! 😆) in our group. However, they are completely in charge of the barbquing and grilling in any party and picnic. So they do share the workload.

But talks of another men's treat is in the talks 😉


MJ...that's really great that you're so close to your co-workers. People invariably get stuck with a particular dish for these potlucks na... well, just goes to show it's well liked and appreciated.
There is that risk of a dish being ignored, but we all try to be sports and dip our spoon/fork in at least once (esp in front of the dish-bringer) ... baaki gets distributed to homes and then it's ghar ghar ki kahani 😆

Originally posted by: simtara

MJ...that's really great that you're so close to your co-workers. People invariably get stuck with a particular dish for these potlucks na... well, just goes to show it's well liked and appreciated.
There is that risk of a dish being ignored, but we all try to be sports and dip our spoon/fork in at least once (esp in front of the dish-bringer) ... baaki gets distributed to homes and then it's ghar ghar ki kahani 😆

😆😆😆 That's true Simi!!

We has this aunty bring some eggplant dish once and it was, not exagerrating, horrible 🤢. She brought two trays.. while she wasn't looking, we hid one tray and left her to believe that people already finished one tray . Now, after everything was over, of course, there were a lot of leftovers and then as you say Simi, it was all ghar ghar ki kahaani 😆