# Dear work, potluck is not a 'treat' **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 4, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877 "2010-06-04T02:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/241 "2011-07-13T20:23:36Z")
> [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](#): > > Clearly, this is the perfect time to mention that I just realized that Ambrosia and the grape and apple and marshmallow filled ‘fruit salad’ my grandma would bring to her church basement bingo potlucks are the same thing! They actually have this in the cafeteria in my office building sometimes, as a side option to go with your sandwich. I may have gotten it once or twice. So terrible… but the nostalgia! ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/242 "2011-07-31T00:41:55Z")
> [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](#): > > Clearly, this is the perfect time to mention that I just realized that Ambrosia and the grape and apple and marshmallow filled ‘fruit salad’ my grandma would bring to her church basement bingo potlucks are the same thing! 😃 > > Thinking back, they made a \*green \*marshmallow fruit salad too - but it wasn’t green because of any green fruit… I think I know what you mean, and it’s called “Green Goddess Salad” (or “Green Garbage” at our house), and the green is from pistachio pudding powder. It consists of whipped cream, crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries, pistachio pudding powder, marshmallows, walnuts, and I’m not sure what all else. Oh man, I used to love that shit, though I preferred it without the marshmallows and walnuts. I don’t think I could eat very much of it anymore, especially if it was made with Cool Whip rather than real whipped cream, which of course it always was. Made with CW, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/243 "2011-07-31T01:53:16Z")
> [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](#): > > Clearly, this is the perfect time to mention that I just realized that Ambrosia and the grape and apple and marshmallow filled ‘fruit salad’ my grandma would bring to her church basement bingo potlucks are the same thing! 😃 > > Thinking back, they made a \*green \*marshmallow fruit salad too - but it wasn’t green because of any green fruit… > > (They also called those disgusting jello molds with fruit either ‘fruit salads’ or ‘jello salads’. But I live in Minnesota. Fear our hot dish!) That green shit is sometimes called “Watergate salad” and the green is lime jello powder. I’ve seen it at supermarket salad bars. I actually kinda like stuff. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/244 "2011-08-01T05:55:52Z")
One word for this thread,“Crudites”. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/245 "2011-08-01T09:17:33Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > One word for this thread,“Crudites”. Oh come on now, this isn’t the Pit! There’s no need to use that kind of language round here 😛 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/246 "2011-08-01T17:03:47Z")
> [@Jeneva](#): > > I think I know what you mean, and it’s called “Green Goddess Salad” (or “Green Garbage” at our house), and the green is from pistachio pudding powder. It consists of whipped cream, crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries, pistachio pudding powder, marshmallows, walnuts, and I’m not sure what all else. > > Oh man, I used to love that shit, though I preferred it without the marshmallows and walnuts. I don’t think I could eat very much of it anymore, especially if it was made with Cool Whip rather than real whipped cream, which of course it always was. Made with CW, I mean. This, yes, this was it! And, would you look at that! Two of the seven ingredients are fruit in this ‘fruit salad’. How healthful! (If maraschino cherries count as a fruit…) Why they named this stuff ‘Green Goddess Salad’ and ‘Ambrosia’ and not ‘Green Shit’ and ‘Shit’, I’ll never know… ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/247 "2011-08-01T17:37:11Z")
I’ve seen fruit salads with dressings as well as plain. Often the ones with dressings have a poppyseed dressing or something lemon based. I’ve never seen one with mayo. That sounds fucking disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/248 "2011-08-01T22:52:11Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > I’ve seen fruit salads with dressings as well as plain. Often the ones with dressings have a poppyseed dressing or something lemon based. I’ve never seen one with mayo. That sounds fucking disgusting. Never had a Waldorf salad? ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/249 "2011-08-02T20:55:55Z")
> [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](#): > > This, yes, this was it! > > And, would you look at that! Two of the seven ingredients are fruit in this ‘fruit salad’. How healthful! (If maraschino cherries count as a fruit…) > > Why they named this stuff ‘Green Goddess Salad’ and ‘Ambrosia’ and not ‘Green Shit’ and ‘Shit’, I’ll never know… I think Ambrosia tends to have more actual fruit in it, and could conceivably be made with real whipped cream if one so desired. Green Garbage (yes, we really called it that) is not only lacking in actual fruit, but is almost entirely artificial, except perhaps for the pineapple. And the walnuts if you’re into that. It may have had something else in that qualified as “fruit”, but I can’t remember any if so. I’m flashing back to childhood Thanksgivings now… ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/250 "2011-08-04T07:38:42Z")
The recipe I’ve used for Watergate salad uses pistachio pudding for flavor and its green color. ---
**Author:** ![Sparkina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@Sparkina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparkina)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/251 "2022-08-30T07:41:20Z")
Funny. As kids, we used to FANTASIZE about an all-sugar lunch ---
**Author:** ![Sparkina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@Sparkina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparkina)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/252 "2022-08-30T07:43:55Z")
Funny. As kids, just about all of us FANTASIZED about an all-sugar lunch ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/253 "2022-08-30T15:19:16Z")
Since this got bumped, I’ll react to something that’s been bothering me for over a decade: > [@blondebear](#): > > My co-workers are mostly married guys. Without fail, they’ll bring in something their wife made. 😮. Hopefully we’ve progressed as a species since the Twenty-teens… . I once said “I’m busy working. If you want me to contribute, I’ll bring Circus Peanuts.” They did, so I did. And fun was had. By the few that actually liked them, the people who made a coworker eat one on a dare, and those that just made fun of them. So, every potluck, I had to bring them (why, yes, I did serve them in an elegant bowl). [![](https://www.spanglercandy.com/media/wysiwyg/circus-peanuts1_1.jpg) ](https://www.spanglercandy.com/media/wysiwyg/circus-peanuts1_1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/254 "2022-08-30T16:14:36Z")
I have many complaints about potlucks (e.g. it’s annoying to transport a cooked dish from place to place, the food ends up being lukewarm, good food runs out very quickly and lousy food lasts forever), but my main complaint is that they don’t really make sense mathematically. Ten people each bring enough food for ten people to share? What a waste of money and effort for what is often a mediocre meal. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/255 "2022-08-30T16:28:00Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I did I hate potlucks with a passion. Someone on this board – maybe in the very thread, which I’m too lazy to search through right now – once said something about potlucks being small-scale educational demonstrations of the tragedy of the commons and I think that is quite accurate. With that in mind I think a bowl of circus peanuts would be a perfect way to contribute while simultaneously showing my disdain for the concept. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/256 "2022-08-30T18:07:59Z")
Never mind ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/257 "2022-08-30T18:27:38Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > May I mention the related annoyance of trying to serve oneself ordered-in Chinese food out of a tray-full of the entree with a tiny plastic eating spoon? That’s why my work group had a supply of real serving utensils (and a _real_ knife for cutting cake) on hand. We had maybe 3 or 4 potlucks a year, so it wasn’t a horrible imposition. We had a United Nations group makeup, so the food was always good and interesting. I especially remember one older Indian guy who was so proud of his wife’s samosas (they were good!), that he just beemed everytime someone would pay them a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/258 "2022-08-30T22:09:36Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > That’s why my work group had a supply of real serving utensils (and a _real_ knife for cutting cake) on hand. Not a potluck but we’ll get food delivered in every couple months. It’s typically a few pizzas, a bowl of salad, perhaps a tray of pasta, some cookies. After struggling with the horrible disposable serving utensils from the pizza place time and again, I finally bought some stuff from the dollar store and donated it to our breakroom. We got to use them for the first time a couple weeks ago - SO MUCH BETTER. A pizza cutter\*, assorted tongs including the type for salad, some spatulas. I don’t even mind washing them. \*The pizza arrives cut but I usually help put away leftovers and, since we leave it out for a few hours, it’s room temperature by then and the cheese had welded shut. Since we do square party cut here, it was a pain to pull the 3 inch pieces from each other. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/259 "2022-08-30T22:15:32Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > After struggling with the horrible disposable serving utensils from the pizza place time and again, I finally bought some stuff from the dollar store and donated it to our breakroom. We got to use them for the first time a couple weeks ago - SO MUCH BETTER. 👍 👍 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877/260 "2022-08-31T01:25:24Z")
My employer pays for any meals we have during mandatory socializing functions. I don’t think I’ve been to a work sponsored potluck for more than twenty years now, and the last time it was at a place I hated with coworkers I didn’t like. Miserable. Prior to COVID, we had an annual holiday meeting where we reserved a private space at a nice restaurant. I have a few coworkers who are particularly picky and wouldn’t have any interest in a potluck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-work-potluck-is-not-a-treat/541877.md?page=14)