Potluck Psychology; or how I learned to stop worrying and love the Crock

i remind myself of the interview i read with stephen malkmus where he said he doesn't do potlucks.

i wound up going to TWO on Sunday and brought the most boring shit (ooooh chips and dip, yay). cos I can only cook like, pasta, fish, and burgers :/

used to cook stuff, now i just bring some salad and/or let my gf make a dip, because you only need to bring one dish per couple, right?

Option for 'cook and bring something as mandated'

i love when there's no sign-up sheet and everybody makes potato salad and nothing else

My family goes to a fairly regular potluck thing. Our usual has progressed from a big bag of reese's peanut butter cups to two boxes of Dunkin Donuts munchkins to a big vat of fresh squeezed lemonade. I'm starting to feel better about our contributions.

Ostentatious largess (in terms of quality, variety and effort) designed to make everyone else look and feel bad.

i always bring cornbread to potlucks regardless of what is needed, wanted, or asked of me

i bring something that i want to eat because if i don't, i can't be sure that there will be something i want to eat there
this is crucial at classroom potlucks in particular

ugh a manager at my old job organized a few lunchtime potlucks as team-bonding events which i would always avoid. i wouldn't want to eat anything made by half the people i worked with. also the majority of dishes were always desserts.

we used to have em at work until I began working from home. a few people made good stuff, I was one of the horrible people bringing in store boughts as I lived 20 miles away.

I always feel 'ooooh I brought chips so I get to eat the food you slaved 8 hours over' guilt

Desserts are most Americans' specialties. They may not be able to master a deviled egg, but they do know how to make a 12-layered super-sweet monstrosity incorporating crushed Oreos and butter-soaked graham cracker crumbs.

I have now learned to bring something that is easy to cook the night before, and/or can be served cold. fuck trying to keep hot things hot after they are cooked

xp: yeah, at the potluck we go to, fully half the table is desserts.

work feverishly at fucking something up, but also bring weed

olives

stick to what you know and hope someone brings weed

i've had a potluck at my house every single week for the last four years btw. it always turns into a balanced meal somehow. i've gotten pretty lazy about making stuff (and usually get home from work too late anyway), but i figure that hosting is sort of a contribution.

That's really awesome.

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