saturday evening recap

[swingchickie]

last night jack and i went to a friend's birthday party. i like going to her birthday thing every year, because she knows such an interesting group of people... she's very involved/known in the philly arts and improv scene, so her parties are usually a mix of musicians, comedians, and artists... some of them a few fries short of a full happy meal. always makes for a colorful evening. B (the friend) started taking a samba drumming class a year ago, and her class performed at the party... totally awesome. i love brazilian music, especially the big boomy drums (whatever they're called)... if only i lived closer to the city, i'd totally suck up more of my free time by trying to learn.

one thing struck me this morning after the party though. it was billed as a potluck, with a request to bring booze and/or snacks to share with everyone... there were easily 30 or 40 people in attendance at this party, and the food offerings were as follows: one person brought 2 loaves of pepperoni bread, with a warmer to keep them toasty... two people brought hame baked brownies... one person brought an enormous tray of beautiful cheeses and crackers... and one person brought a bowl of homemade pasta salad. everyone else, out of 40 people, brought some permutation of chips and hummus. potato chips, pita chips, hummus with garlic, hummus with sundried tomatoes... i've never seen so many containers of store-bought hummus in one place in my life.

so i was just struck by what we've become as a society... that someone spends a nice chunk of money to rent a giant loft in philly to throw a party, and invites the people she loves to celebrate with her... she asks her music class to attend and perform for everyone... and we all respond by swinging by the supermarket on the way and picking up $6 worth of chips and dip. what happened to the days when "potluck" meant that you took the time the night before to make an actual dish to share with everyone? the days when people had a couple of "signature recipes" that they'd bust out at times like this, and they were happy to make the effort to actually cook? can you imagine if, in the 1960s, someone brought anything to a potluck that came in a box, bag, or tub? the shame! are we all really that busy? not to mention the fact that the birthday girl doesn't eat anything with sugar or refined flour... and so the only thing in the entire party that she could eat was some cubes of cheese from that cheese platter.

speaking of food -- i must learn to not watch the food network when i'm hungry, because i am very suggestible. jack and i didn't eat breakfast this morning, so when we were flipping channels and saw a food network show all about pizza, we had an instant violent craving for it. we went to a local pizza joint we'd been wanting to try, and ordered a death bomb covered in sausage, pepperoni, ground beef, and bacon. urk. i had 3 slices, and 5 hours later my body still doesn't know what to do with it.

Comments

[viellen]

"what happened to the days when "potluck" meant that you took the time the night before to make an actual dish to share with everyone?"

This still exists in Vermont. I've been here three months and have been to no less than 3 potlucks, all of which included full-out recipes (including turkeys, crockpots and creative desserts) from all party goers. Mmm!

[boutell.livejournal.com]

I hear ya, but this is what her invite said:

"POTLUCK MUNCHIES/APPETIZERS/SWEETS AND BYOB EVENT! Please grace us with your favorite appetizer, dessert or bag o' chips, and don't forget your favorite beer or wine."

Reading that, I felt very okay with bringing bags o' chips. In a more ideal world I would have made something, but sometimes your presence is the best you can do, y'know? B. certainly knows.

(Ironically I was starving and totally treated the buffet as dinner. But that's an indication of the long weird week I'd had. Ordinarily I would have eaten something first. I REALLY should have eaten at the Ethiopian place across the street...)

[(Anonymous)]

totally understand about the invite... except that almost everyone defaulted to "or bag o' chips", which was the easy/inexpensive/etc way out. that was my point. it would have been the same price, and just as easy, for people to order a container of kung pao from their local chinese joint and dump it in a bowl they brought from home. or pick up any of the pre-made foods that all supermarkets sell that are hot and ready to go. it just seems like in the last few years especially, everyone has gravitated towards chips and hummus as the default potluck food. and i miss the days of people putting some effort in. and it just happened to be especially glaring at the party last night.

(btw, the post totally wasn't directed at you. it was more about all of us partygoers as a group.)

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

oops. that was me, forgot to log in.

one other point i'll make (not at you, in general), to illustrate the food offerings last night -- imagine if a vegetarian threw a potluck birthday party, and everyone brought a dish with meat in it. none of us brought anything the birthday girl could eat. not that we all needed to bring sugar-free and low carb food, but not one of us brought something specifically for her.

[boutell.livejournal.com]

You know, that's true. If I get another shot at preparing something specifically for Bobbi I'm going to think hard about that one.

[boutell.livejournal.com]

Oh, I understood it wasn't directed at me. I had a much longer response in my head that I recognized as OMG having NOTHING to do with your post and probably being more appropriate for one of my own. (: My inner Mrs. Dalloway is scandalized by my recent behavior, you see.

I used to try to have a potluck occasionally, but it usually meant I got no guests. I have noted with interest that the potluck thing is actually working out relatively often now at gatherings among our immediate circle.

[blamedstarlie.livejournal.com]

It makes me very sad that I don't have a signature dish and I think about it way more than I should. :(

I make a few thing ok--chicken noodle soup with dumplings, but sometimes it is better than others. I really wish I could make the best of something and people would drool until I arrived--but I am just not that great at cooking-so far.