Scholars Engaging in the Pot Luck

There are some folks at the Western States Folklore Society who hold potluck dinners with traditional foods from the area. This is intended as a way of revitalizing traditions, as well as sharing cultural values across established lines. Taught in the form of a college class, the course of which this article is focused with more emphasis on the cultures and values, with the potluck serving as a way to bring together the students in a more informal way at the conclusion of their studies.

The article is linked here.

Continuing with the previous article’s issue of fear of potlucking, this article nicely describes some of the precautions that should be taken by those hoping to “survive a potluck”. I was interested in finding more about potlucking with some folks with celiac disease, or lactose intolerance, but have yet to find a lengthy article discussing such things.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/08/1039118/-Surviving-a-Potluck

The Fear of the potluck

There are many people who avoid potlucks due to the ability of those attending to have total control over what goes into your mouth. While this fear seems a tad un-grounded, I have investigated what dangers are actually associated with pot lucking.

http://articles.latimes.com/print/2008/dec/15/health/he-potluck15

English Pot Luck

Or should I say failure. The problems with the English Sixth block potluck were numerous and easily predictable. The many compoundable problems were the lack of people to bring food, the fact that we had just had eaten lunch, and that no one had taken up the lion’s mane of the work in regards of diving up responsibilities.

TOK potluck

We tried to have a potluck in TOK, and it didn’t really work. I will observe the 8th block class, as they appear to have gathered a substantial amount of food for the enjoyment of the class holistically. However, I am quite disappointed in what I have seen so far, mainly including chips and bottles of sodas.

A nice Saturday pot luck

Attended a pot luck over the weekend. It was well structured with several attendees. Because there were many teenagers attending without parents, the adults took it upon themselves and decreed that the structure of the pot luck would be that the Adults would provide the food. The host, Mr. South, provided a large crock pot of BBQ with a honey glaze sauce. Other adults brought fresh baked breads, an extremely elaborate salad, sour cream jalapeños, and chips and salsa. The pot luck lasted about an hour. We ate off of disposable plates and utensils. Because this was the kickoff to the night long induction and there were many high level Lodge Officers there, much of the conversation revolved around business matters of the  Lodge.

The current state of the pot luck

Here at Westwood High school, we are at a terrible misfortune. We are more backwards than Russia before the revolution in terms of our collective potlucking ability. This is plainly evident in our attempted potlucks where we all intend to take, in quite the primitive sense, pot luck. As a community, we solely take for granted the generosity of our peers, few of whom bring any contribution to the pot luck. They take the luck of the pot, consuming any available goods without offering the slightest return. This practice is one that originated in the medieval age, as beggars and travelers would take the generosity of hosts who had made no plans for them. This abysmal state of the art of potlucking is what I will be trying to remedy into a more civilized and cultured event.

Article about potlucking

I found, have read, and have analyzed this profound article about the potluck and how it as a social organization maintains influence over a substantial, but decreasing proportion of the American population.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-06-26/features/sc-fam-0626-potluck-etiquette-20120626_1_potluck-potato-salad-chocolate-cake

Furthermore, I have found an explanation of the origins of the word “potluck”, as well as a couple of remarks about their usefulness.

http://www.word-detective.com/2009/06/potluck/

The beginnings

I am exploring the social and economic implications of potlucking, the recent decline of potlucking among the American middle class, and what exactly needs to be done to revive this social experience in the modern day’s youth. This will culminate in the Independent Study Project Paper (2000 words) and, hopefully, the first real potluck among the senior class of 2014.