The “biggest disappointment” thread made me think of this. It was more than 20 years ago, and I still think about it and tell people about it.
When I was in college, I belonged to a Bible study group that did a lot of outreach to foreign students, the Chinese in particular. We had a 4th of July picnic, and the Americans brought tradition picnic food - potato chips, hot dogs, potato salad, etc. - and the Chinese students all brought genuine Chinese food. They were all trying our food, and we were all eating their food. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had, hands down.
I’m a shapenote (Sacred Harp) singer, and I have to say that all-day singings and two-day conventions have the best potluck around. We call it “dinner on the ground” and it’s a midday feast. The best ones I’ve been to in 2015 were in Alameda CA and Seattle WA, but there’s plenty of year left. My favorite ever was in McMahan TX in 2012, where I got to taste Texas BBQ for the first time after 20 years of vegetarianism. Dinner on the ground is described (with recipes) in Kathryn Eastburn’s book A Sacred Feast.
There is a very international Seventh Day Adventist church near my home that holds a vegetarian potluck yearly featuring homemade food from around the world. The public can purchase tickets, and there are literally thousands of dishes- all home cooked- to sample. Each room of food is themed for a different continent or region of the world, and they hit all of them.
It’s epic.
For a while we had a neighbor who was attending culinary classes at Johnson and Wales. She invited my husband and I over to a potluck dinner she and her chefy classmates were holding. No cocktail weinies or 7-layer dips from THIS bunch. This was culinary nirvana. It was basically restaurant food for free.
What did I bring to this gathering where I was so out-classed? A crudite tray (to we normal folks, that’s a vegetable platter) lol