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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, and used to mean "food provided for an unexpected or uninvited guest, the luck of the pot".[5] 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]
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. In some cases, each participant agrees ahead of time to bring a single course, and the result is a multi-course meal. This agreement rectifies the problem of many participants bringing the same dish. Guests may bring in any form of food, ranging from the main course to desserts.[9]
