Another vote for “be sensitive that people on restricted diets have enough to eat, but otherwise go crazy.”
In the bland pot luck dinners I attend, the small table with vegan entries has the only interesting food. Unusual spices and minority vegetables. I’m not really driven to try someone’s lasagna or seven-layer nacho dip.
But potluck “servings” are much smaller than conventional, right, because there are more dishes and people are eating more different things. So if your dish is a standard “serves 8,” I imagine that would suffice for at least twice as many at a potluck. At a really big event, as dangermom says, of course no one person will eat from every dish–but there should still be plenty to go around.
I picked “full serving”, partly because I am a lot less frightened of what may be in that vegetarian/gluten-free dish than in the mysterous meat-bits-in-suspicious-sauce dishes, but also because a full serving at a potluck is not much more than 2-3 mouthfuls, generally. If there are people on a restricted diet the food is specificaly made for, I would hope there was some indication. I assume if it’s on the table the preparer will be disappointed if they end up taking a half-full container home.
Actually, I don’t put anyone down for anything. If he asks me what hhe should bring, I’ve learned to be more specific: “Would you be willing to bring half a dozen 2 liters of assorted soda?” or “I think we’re okay for food, but we need plates and plasticware for 30.” It’s the quantity (1) not the item, that I roll my eyes at. I don’t expect everyone to cook, but I do expect everyone who’s eating (participating) to donate something appropriate.
None of the potlucks I participate in are mandatory, like an office one (those sound dreadful); they’re gatherings of friends or post-religious service kinds of things. And yeah, in those contexts, the vultures annoy me.
That’s the bulk of my potluck experience. As a child, we generally only attended church when visiting grandparents. When visiting one set, we were Methodists, and when visiting the other set, we were Baptists.
Your typical Southern church fellowship/potluck thing was some mighty fine eating. Baptists seemed to have the best fried chicken, but the Methodists get the nod for desserts. Sweet little old ladies piling plates high with all sorts of good stuff. On the Methodist side, I once made TWO shiny quarters (think I would have been about 6 at the time, so 2 quarters was BIG MONEY at the time) by being sure to go back for seconds, thirds etc of whatever this really old lady made. Stuff was gawdawful, and probably not fit for human consumption, as the woman in question was damn near blind…but of course no one could point that out. Instead, I was to get whatever she brought…brag on how good it was loudly in front of her friends…then sneak back to the kitchen when nobody was looking and scrape it into the garbage. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Some of the workplace potlucks that I’ve participated in the past could be interesting in the variety of “specialty” foods that were there.
One company that I worked for had a mix of employees that was about 50% traditional southern / soul food cooks, about 25% no-pork-for-religious-reasons cooks and 10% vegetarian cooks. We developed a system of tagging dishes that contained meat and more specifically, pork. There was always enough of the specialty dishes to go around. Some of the southern / soul food cooks also took to using smoked turkey to season dishes otherwise made with cured pork. I got to try some awesome food when I worked there!
In my family, there are usually some desserts tagged as being made with splenda for the diabetics. We don’t even try to keep up with the crunchy sister’s no-no de jour, but instead, make sure that there’s a big crudite platter and a large salad that is all vegetable or fruit. After that, she’s on her own.
I usually go for a bit of the specially marked dessert, as I’m TypeII, but as a rule, there’s enough for everyone and if there isn’t, I can still do a small sample of the high test stuff, so it doesn’t bother me too much.
Your palate sounds like that of a pre-teen boy.
You know something that also has to do with how fast your dish goes? The serving spoon, fork, or tongs. A few times early in my potluck-going life on I made some damn tasty food, but it was never eaten. Turns out the slightly-larger-than-usual tablespoon I included meant only the diehards wanted to “work” for it. I’ve since learned my lesson to pack the serving utensil.
Anyways, I try nearly everything, with half-serving sizes I’d say. I’m not the biggest pork fan, but I’d definitely try any in a potluck setting. I don’t like “replacement” foods - like chili with fake meat, fake hot dogs, etc. But say you made a tasty quinoa, mango, and blackbean salad? (EatingWell has one that I make often and is a real hit). Then I’m eating it. IMO, vegetarianism is best when executed without “replacement” items. I am a vegetarian on average 5 days/week.
Well, I’m not vegetarian at all, but damn, that sounds tasty! Care to share the recipe? 
I won’t touch that kind of stuff. It’s just not at all appetizing to me. I need meat, fat and salt.
norinew, here ya go! Go easy on the orange juice (so add it at the end); depending on the ripeness of your mango, you will may only need a little.
Looks great! I’m going to have to try this.
I pciked the first option but it kind of depends. I eat a ‘special’ diet myself so I’ll absolutely eat full servings of dishes that fall within my usual strictures (potatoes au gratin instead of pasta for my celiac BIL? Yes, thank you!). But I don’t eat many things most vegetarians do (grains, beans, soy products, baked goods), so you’ll almost never see me taste the veggie option.
Like any reasonable person who has a restricted diet, I never show up at a function involving food on an empty stomach. If there’s nothing I want to eat I’ll take a few bites here and there for politeness sake, praise the cooks, and be extra-glad I had my steak 2 hours ago. If there’s a ton of food I can eat I pig out, praise the cooks, and it’s all good because I need to gain weight.
It might sound a bit harsh, but a potluck really isn’t the place for someone who can’t or won’t eat 99% of the common foods, and I don’t concern myself with them. I assume that since they know they won’t be able to eat anything at the potluck that they’ll take care of their own special dietary needs.
If I’m going to a potluck for, say, 20 people, how much food I bring depends on the food. If I bring cookies, I’d bring at least 20 - everyone probably won’t have one, but there should be one available for everyone (and I do make really good cookies ). If I bring a casserole, I won’t make 20 full servings because everyone would probably just have a big spoonful, and there will be 15 other mains available, probably.
As a vegetarian, I always BRING something that I can eat but which will be appealing to others as well and bring enough for everyone.
Unless I know there are others there with dietary resrictions or preferences, I usually don’t label it or specify that it is vegetarian or vegan.
I have never taken leftovers home, even from potlucks or gatherings where I’m the only veggie.
For years, I brought my vegan pumpkin pie to family holiday gatherings and it was more popular than the traditional pies there.
I never told any of the die-hard carnivores that they were eating tofu 
The thing is, there is no reason why non-veggies can’t eat veggie food (IME, most never even notice it IS veggie unless I point it out) but the opposite isn’t true.
Obviously, in a situation where there is a limited supply of a specialty dish and I didn’t need it, I would eat other things, at least until it was clear that those who did need/want it had taken their fill.
I picked option 2, but option 1 is also a possibility for me. I do want to make sure those with restricted diets have had a shot at their food, but I’m also very curious with my food, so I like to try a little bit of everything on offer at a potluck/dinner/buffet.
I was a little bit amused when last year I was shooting an Indian wedding, and they had a special section set aside for Jains. The catering was all vegetarian (Gujarati food), but the Jain offerings had the restriction of also being free of root vegetables. So no onions or garlic or anything like that. Now, I love trying all kinds of food, and was really curious what Indian food without garlic and onions taste like. There were not a lot of Jains there and, from what I could tell, there was absolutely no danger of them running short of food. So, plate in hand, I walked up to the Jain section of the buffet. Before I even had a chance to dig to grab a serving spoon, I was stopped by one of the staff and told that the food was reserved for certain people on a special diet (they just assumed I didn’t know what Jainism was), and that I had to go to the regular buffet line to eat, even though there was nobody in this line, every table had a go at the buffet, and there were giant mounds of food leftover. Part of me wanted to fuck with them and ask them what made them think I wasn’t Jain? What, white people can’t be Jains? Or maybe I’m Hare Krishna and am similarly restricted in my diet. But I thought better of it and just hit the regular Gujarati food line.
I’m still curious what Jain food tastes like.
I like to take a large casserole, or generally a double bucket of chicken, sometimes a watermelon. Spicy Cold Peanut Butter Dan Dan Noodles, Chicken Cacciatore, Plakis Gigantes, Apple Pies, Sweet Potato Pies, Pumpkin Pies (usually 2 each of the pies)… Enough to feed about 12 practically with other potluck dishes/additions. And if you have a planning comittee or signup sheet that offers you alternatives you can easily comptrol the number of assigned salads, entrees, Beverages, and desserts.
You weren’t missing anything. Jain food tastes…odd. Onions, IMO, are the backbone of all Indian food.