Potluck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Movie known as Pot Luck in Britain, Ireland and English-Speaking Canada see Euro Pudding
A potluck is a gathering of people where each person is expected to bring 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.
The word "potluck" is sometimes thought to stem from the Native American custom of potlatch, but in fact the word is of English origin. It is a portmanteau word formed from (cooking) pot and luck. The earliest written citation is from 1592: "That that pure sanguine complexion of yours may never be famisht with pot lucke," Thomas Nashe.[3] As this shows, the original meaning was "food given away to guests", probably derived from "whatever food one is lucky enough to find in the pot", i.e. whatever food happens to be available, especially when offered to a guest. By extension, a more general meaning is "whatever is available in a particular circumstance or at a particular time."
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.
A variation on the potluck dinner is the rota meal, short for rotation. With rota, 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.
