Regardless of what you call it, pitch-in-dinner, pot-providence, whatever, the people of the South know how to do it. During my over 16 years living in the American South, I never once attended a potluck dinner where there wasn't enough food. Not once. They are the experts. I don't know if they invented the potluck, but they know how to win it.
Southerners don't need instructions on how to potluck, but in the geographic area of America where I live now, the people definitely need some instructions. I have been to countless potlucks in which the food ran out before everyone had gone through the line. It's a travesty. Especially if I spent two hours in the early morning preparing a dish or two and I go home hungry. Why does this happen here with such regularity?
It's simple. Some people need help. They need some guidelines. It doesn't have to be complicated, but apparently it needs to be said. So I'm going to say it. Here are the potluck rules. Follow them and be filled.
Rule #1
Make Enough to Feed Your Own Family and AT LEAST Two Other People.
This is aimed at the wives/moms who are the ones doing the cooking in most conservative Christian families. Make a main dish. It can be a meat dish like a meatloaf or it can be a casserole. Tuna and noodles is just fine. If you have 7 in your family, your potluck main dish should serve AT LEAST 9 people. You might need to bump up your regular recipe, maybe double it, just in case. Be generous. This is probably the only meal that people are going to eat today!
Rule #2
Make a Dessert.
That's right. Bring a main dish AND a dessert. You and your children are going to eat a main dish AND a dessert, right? So bring both.
Just a word here about salads and side dishes: Don't worry about it. No one is going to go home disappointed if there wasn't enough coleslaw or green beans. If your main dish tastes better with a particular side dish, for example you don't like meatloaf unless you have mashed potatoes, then go ahead and bring a side. But don't bring a side dish INSTEAD of a main dish. The only exception is if you are a widow or a single person and it would be outside of your ability or budget to bring a main dish. Single young people can get away with bringing something from the deli, like a potato salad or a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos. Everyone likes those and we don't expect single people to know how to cook for a crowd.
Rule #3
Teach Your Children How to Go Through a Potluck Line
Parents need to teach this and someone from the church should remind parents about it right before they ask God to bless the food and the potlucking commences. Children under 10 (and maybe even 12) should not be allowed to go through the food line alone. One or both parents should accompany them. Young children need someone else to hold their plate. The church should provide trays for moms trying to fill 3 or 4 plates at once.
I have been to churches that invite moms with young children to go through the line first. This is ideal because the older children can help the moms with younger children, since the older children are not worried about getting into the line.
Children should only take food that they are very likely to actually eat. This isn't the time to force your children to try some of everything. If they don't like broccoli salad, leave that for the adults who DO like it and will be happy to get it. It is better if a child goes through the line and ends up with only one food that she will eat than if she has 10 items that end up in the trash. At potlucks, children may be more interested in playing than eating, so don't make a scene. If you are worried that your own children will be hungry later, then either train them to suck it up or bring a snack in the diaper bag that they can eat later.
Do not let children go directly to the dessert table. Everyone should go through the regular line before visiting the dessert table. At my church, there are adults who go directly to the dessert table upon entering the potluck room and take a dessert to their table to make sure they get the dessert they want. This is completely unbelievable to me and the height of selfishness. If the worst thing that happens to you after a great day of worship and fellowship is that you don't get the dessert you want, you should sleep well. They are also setting a terrible example for the children who are being taught to delay their gratification.
Teach your children to take only one dessert. This may be two cookies or one piece of cake or pie. After it is clear that everyone has had a chance to get a dessert and there are still goodies remaining, children may return for a second dessert.
Rule #4
Take Responsibility For Set Up
At a southern potluck dinner, each person who brings food will find a place on the serving table to set her dish (usually grouped by category: main dish, sides, dessert) and will provide or find some sort of serving utensil to place in the dish. For some reason that I cannot get anyone to explain, in this area, one or two people are expected to do all of the set up, including heating anything that needs heating, setting the food out at the appropriate time and making sure there is a serving utensil. If the meal is taking place following the worship service, the kitchen help are expected to be absent from worship so they can stay in the kitchen and "prepare" the potluck. I put "prepare" in quotes because the whole point of the potluck is that no one has to do anything except bring a dish to share and set it out. If it needs to be heated, or ingredients need to be combined, that task is performed by THE PERSON WHO BROUGHT THE DISH!
I was shocked the first time I was in the kitchen placing my casserole in the oven before worship in order to keep it warm for dinner, and other women started coming into the kitchen with their food and started explaining to me what needed to be done with it. Sort of the same way parents just drop their babies in the church nursery for someone else to deal with. I had no idea why they were telling me what temperature oven was needed and what time it needed to go into the oven so it would be hot, but not burnt, at potluck hour. They were not happy when I told them that I had every intention of being at every second of the worship service and had no plans to stand around in the kitchen like some sort of caterer.
Anyway, if you are new to the place, and you don't know where to find the serving spoons, bring your own from home or just ask where the drawer is located. If you are bringing a dish that needs to be served hot, bring it in a slow cooker or put it in the oven which will be set on a low temperature for that purpose. Don't bring raw food and expect to be able to turn the oven up to 400 degrees and have someone else cook it while you're worshipping. Obviously (ok, maybe it isn't obvious to everyone) all the women can't expect to use the oven to cook their food at the same time, and while the worship service is happening.
Bring it hot and ready to eat, and put it where it belongs so we minimize the amount of time and the effort needed between when worship ends and when we start eating.
And that's it! If you follow these simple rules and teach the rest of the families at your church to do likewise, you will never run out of food. You will have enough for visitors and sometimes you will even take home a few leftovers. That's why you should always make food that you, yourself, like to eat. You may have to eat it.
Did I forget anything? What is your experience with potlucks, especially at church? What do you think about churches assigning which families bring what? What about those websites where you list what you're bringing? (I hate those)
And that's it! If you follow these simple rules and teach the rest of the families at your church to do likewise, you will never run out of food. You will have enough for visitors and sometimes you will even take home a few leftovers. That's why you should always make food that you, yourself, like to eat. You may have to eat it.
Did I forget anything? What is your experience with potlucks, especially at church? What do you think about churches assigning which families bring what? What about those websites where you list what you're bringing? (I hate those)
