A potluck taste of nations

What’s a potluck, you ask? The word “potluck” has been in use since at least A.D. 1592, from “pot” plus “luck,” with the idea of one’s luck or chance as to what may be in the pot heating on the stove. The tradition of potluck dinners spans the world. Everyone, or every family, brings something to one home for the lunch or dinner. Today, potlucks tend to be a bit planned and don’t rely solely on the host’s cooking pot. After all, if everybody comes and eats what’s in the pot without bringing anything, it turns into a pretty scarce potluck.

Potluck lunches and dinners can take many forms, each one offering its own delight. They may not be as easy as dining out as a group, but they have the advantage of being cheaper than a restaurant meal, often more varied in the “menu,” and they save all participants the concerns about cooking for a group. I love the idea of a potluck as the host or hostess does not need to bear the burden of preparing an elaborate feast for 10 or 12 or many more people as long as there is seating space. My kitchen is the size of a postage stamp, but I have folding tables and chairs, two fridges in the hallway, a microwave oven and an unreliable oven to heat up prepared dishes.

A family affair

First, there is the family dinner potluck. Years ago back in the states when the boys were teenagers, we’d sometimes have a family potluck dinner night, especially when my husband had to stay late at work. Each family member was assigned a “course” to fix; vegetable, main dish, starch or soup, dessert. Needless to say, neither of the boys was ever, ever, ever given the vegetable option; otherwise we’d always have had french fries. The rules were simple. One, only foods from the fridge and the cabinets could be used. No fair going out to buy fried chicken or calling out for pizza. Two, we wouldn’t tell each other what we were making. Sometimes the resultant meal was unusual to say the least.

A basic potluck pitfall to avoid is when the host simply says “bring something.” None of the guests has any idea what the others are bringing. The problem with this approach is that four of the guests might bring rakı, four bring baklava, two bring chicken kebab and the two stragglers who can’t cook and are in a hurry bring that on-sale bag of baharat Doritos. Two years ago I went to a potluck dinner on the Asian side attended by at least 50 people. I counted 20 salads, at least 16 desserts and 10 bottles of wine. Two of us had brought deviled eggs which vanished in a flash. A sure-fire way to ensure a better variety of foods is to divide up the courses alphabetically. “If your first name begins with A-E, bring a main dish; if it begins with F-M, bring a salad; if it begins with N-S, bring a side dish; if it begins with T-Z bring a dessert.” Adjust your guest list accordingly!

Potluck meals can be themed to mark the national holidays of the international community. For example, this year the Professional American Women of Istanbul (PAWI) are celebrating Thanksgiving with a potluck dinner. The hostess is providing the turkey as the big bird is most difficult item on the menu to transport. Guests will bring traditional Thanksgiving foods to throw in the “pot.” Hmm, maybe those potluck additions won’t be quite as “traditional” as they would be back in the States. Yams and cranberry sauce are not overflowing on Turkish market shelves.

A few weeks ago I attended a potluck ladies-only lunch hosted by a Turkish-American friend. My donation to the food fun was a stuffed mushroom appetizer which I can quickly heat at her home. Here’s the recipe.

Wash and dry 20 or 30 mushrooms. Break off the stems, which can be used later for mushroom soup. Using a teaspoon, fill each mushroom cap with olive paste (siyah zetin ezmezi). Top with a bit of cheese of your choice. Either bake in a regular oven for four to five minutes or microwave for one-and-a-half minutes.

For a special expatriate potluck, divvy up the dishes by courses and require guests bring a food from either their homeland or one of the countries in which they have lived. Assign each person one of the following: appetizer, salad, bread, pasta, rice, vegetable, soup, hot or cold meat dish and dessert. The spread on the table will be an international spectacular. Maybe there will be baba ghanooj (eggplant dip) with a Saudi Arabian twist, Korean spicy noodles, German potatoes, Italian biscotti, Indonesia pineapple relish, Texan salsa and American deep south corn bread, British steak-and-kidney pie, Palestinian mussaskan (chicken with pine nuts), Indian naan bread, Thai red-curried duck, Moroccan olive dip, pastel (white fish pastry) from Senegal, Welsh pasties, Greek avgolemono soup, Lebanese tabbouleh, Turkish cacik, Chinese shrimp toast and Australian Lamingtons or Vietnamese coconut flan for dessert.

Showing off skills