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A potluck is a communal gathering where each guest or group contributes a different, often homemade, dish of food to be shared.
Other names for a "potluck" include: potluck dinner, pitch-in, shared lunch, spread, faith supper, carry-in dinner,[1] covered-dish-supper,[2] fuddle, Jacob's Join,[3] bring a plate,[4] and fellowship meal.
The word pot-lucke appears in the 16th-century English work of Thomas Nashe discussing wine, [5] and in his play "Summer's Last Will and Testament", spoken in a dialogue concerning wine. The modern execution of a "communal meal, where guests bring their own food", most likely originated in the 1930s during the Great Depression.[6]
Some speakers believe that it is an eggcorn of the North American indigenous communal meal known as a potlatch (meaning "to give away").[7] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, however, it is "unlikely that this played any part in the development of this sense".
Potluck dinners are events where the attendees bring a dish to a meal.[8] The only traditional rule is that each dish be large enough to be shared among a good portion of the anticipated guests. Guests may bring in any form of food, ranging from the main course to desserts.[9]
