Do you participate in potlucks?

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Oct 5, 2008
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Buckley, Wa.
At my place of work we occasionally have potlucks. For the life of me I just can't participate. While the food sometimes looks good, I find myself wondering about the food preparation and cleanliness/hygiene. Some of the folks at my work look a bit questionable. I worry about food borne illnesses. I've never been able to bring myself to take part. Guess I'm too paranoid?
 
Once a month we do a breakfast like that - have that time blocked from meetings … and bcs we are in nonstop meeting overload mode - half the time we have a working lunch with sandwiches the company pays for …
 
Nuh uh. I've found through some surprising conditions in my friend's and co-worker's cars and homes that I shouldn't be eating their food. For every 100 people, there are 100 different standards of cleanliness. I hate nausea and vomiting, so I eat my own food quickly at my desk, then join the festivities.
 
I used to eat at potlucks with abandon. Then every so often threads like this pop up of BITOG and other forums. Gave me pause.

Yikes. Scary. There is a reason every time I see a bucket of chicken, it's empty.

I've never gotten sick from them. But all kidding aside...........life is short, choose wisely!
 
We have potlucks at work. Some really good cooks. Sometimes they turn into an ethnic food thing since we have so many different ethnicities at work. Love me some good samosas and a lot of the Desi colleagues take it very seriously and want to present their food in as positive of a light as possible. We've grown too large to have a company wide potluck. Now, it's departmental pot lucks. I'm a fairly picky eater with many food allergies so I tread carefully.
 
Not just potluck but Ive often wondered while dining at a restaurant…any restaurant, what would I find if I took a stroll through the kitchen. Gordon Ramsays old TV show “kitchen nightmares” comes to mind. :sick:
 
Heck yeah I participate. Any man isn’t going to turn down free food. Lol. Usually when we do it we have food provided from a restaurant like Chick Fil A or Panera or somewhere. We have over 800 employees so hard for someone to cook that much food.
Potlucks are not free food. You are expected to contribute to the food and that costs money

Catered meals is what you’re describing
 
I don't know about potlucks, but I do remember for National Night Out our neighborhood has a small block party. We were joined by the police chief and several firefighters (who had massive appetites). The police chief didn't say anything about the open alcohol on the street, but I don't think he cared as long as everyone behaved.

I remember another neighbor's July 4 block party where nobody was asked to bring food. My kid did end up winning a "contest" about guessing something. But also the only kid in the age group so it wasn't much. Didn't tell my wife since it was a large jar of jelly beans.
 
Not just potluck but Ive often wondered while dining at a restaurant…any restaurant, what would I find if I took a stroll through the kitchen. Gordon Ramsays old TV show “kitchen nightmares” comes to mind. :sick:
One of my customers is a route salesman for a potato chip and snack food company. He says some of the kitchens he goes in make my shop look clean. He says when he is traveling and eats out he usually goes to an Applebees because he has never been in an Applebees kitchen that was not spotlessly clean.
 
I remember one incident twenty plus years ago. We had a work potluck. Lots of people bringing in homemade food. It was at this time I started my 'no eating at potucks' decision. Why? Well one of the guys that was participating brought in a salad. It was about 6 months later that this fella passed away from AIDS. Now I know you are not able to contract HIV from food, but the idea that a host of many other ailments can be food borne made me really think about not eating at potlucks.
 
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