Potluck Pride

The best way to get someone to attend a meeting is to entice them with food. You want a big turnout? Advertise a family potluck, because everyone KNOWS the food will be bountiful and delicious. It's a matter of pride. What person with any sense of self-esteem would not care about what is going to be consumed out of her conspicuously name labeled crock pot? (I love when the really confident attendees bring along pre-printed recipe cards for those of us who inquire about their delectable dish). I know ladies who ponder for weeks what they are going to showcase. Entire parish cookbooks have been created to document and publicly record who can lay claim to the best chili recipe or tortellini salad.

We've been attending our elementary school's potlucks for about 15 years. For a few years there (back in the mid-90's or so), about 10% of the foods on the buffet had protein, and the other 90% had chocolate chips. No one ever complained about the inordinate amount of desserts on the dinner table, but we couldn't conduct a meeting for all the wild indians in the room.

Then a brilliant mom had the idea of assigning food categories to various grade levels, making sure the younger grades got the entrees, and the 8th graders got the desserts. And because every single kindergarten parent attends with their extended family (we're all excited about Little Andy at long last going to school, you know), there finally seemed to be enough main dishes to go around again.

One of the benefits of Potluck dinners is that you bring one dish but feast on 80. But, part of my dilemma is that when you have a big family, you're also going to have children in several grade levels. So, when Kindergarten through 2nd grade is assigned entrees, and 3-4th bring side dishes, and 5-6th bring fruits and salads, and 7-8th bring desserts, well, I'm basically bringing dinner.

When I posted this fact as a status on my Facebook, the responses were immediate. (Okay, most of them were all LOLOLOLOLs). But, there were many other people weighing in, also legitimately short on time, and who, in desperation, have actually pondered the drive-thru menu at McDonald's for their own Potluck dilemmas.

My sister who is literally always "on the fly" (she's a flight attendant for American Airlines) recommended stopping at Kentucky Fried Chicken: "Get the KFC Big Meal Deal... all your grade levels are covered!" My other sister recommended combining grade level requirements into one 9x13 casserole, "and bring some cookies." I love their ingenuity. I was also amused by a few other comments that included "Eat your own dinner at home and attend the book fair afterwards", and from one over-extended mom, "I would drop out of TPO".

I just couldn't consider not attending, even when my bean bake is not blue ribbon standard and my strawberry jello is only "special" because I put Cool Whip on top. Potlucks are informal, "nothing matches", and "anything goes" imperfection, which my family finds comforting. Where else can your children consume an 8 course meal while visiting friends at 6 different tables, even when the "meal" is a scoop of macaroni, Jello Jigglers in the shape of race cars, and a dozen cookies?

As for me, I love the endless food choices, but I love the sense of community more. Maybe that's where the pride comes from: togetherness, belonging. There's something intimate and special about sharing a meal. It bonds us, like a big family dinner table.

So, we won't be skipping out on too many Potlucks, even if it means ordering a pizza from a favorite local joint and picking it up on our way into town. The kids love pizza! (I may not even take my name off the outside of the pizza box.) Afterall, I figure we've got about 14 more years of grade school potlucks, and sometimes I get a little busy.