Bless my unsophisticated palate, because I think these things are heavenly.
At one job, a person who was new brought tofu in to one of our potlucks. It wasn’t the audience for it. No one insulted her or made fun of her or even said anything about it, but not enough people ate it and she cried at her desk.
Awkward.
I did get to try someone else’s particular corn bread recipe that was so good I had to get the recipe myself and it’s now my “You must bring that” dish to family functions.
It’s even more complicated than that. That fruit salad won’t meet the strictest definitions of kosher unless both the bowel it’s served in or the knives used to get the fruit have been dipped in boiling water (or had a blowtorch taken to them). Disposable utensils would also be safe. Though I would expect someone organizing a professional catered interfaith lunch to make sure there’s suitable food for the Jewish & Muslim clergy invited.
(bolding mine) Okay, kosher’s a lot more complex than I’d realized.
And of course it has to be a beef bowel and not a pork bowel.
How was the tofu prepared? Tofu by itself looks (and probably tastes) like a sponge, but prepared properly can be wonderful.
Back when I lived in the Midwest a friend used to bring what she called “Pâté Maison Blanche.” Which was surprisingly good in a Midwestern kind of way.
Yup: White Castle sliders, bread and all, run through the blender.
Another vote that potlucks tend to be a *lowest common denominator * sort of event, which is always a disappointment to foodies or wannabes like me. And the bigger the group, the lower that denominator is.
A small workgroup with all 6 folks moderately skilled foodies; heaven. 30 people on the floor with half mouth-breathing slobs: horrors.
And don’t get me started on the “dump sugar in everything” movement.
I brought that to a potluck, once, as a joke. I called it “Bachelor’s Pâté”, since I’m a bachelor although I loathe (loathe!) White Castle. I also brought some vegetarian pizza-like appetizers.
The dog food from White Castle was wolfed down within minutes of arriving. Only me, one of the engineers’ wives, and the lone vegetarian ate any of the other.
I actually try to avoid potlucks nowadays.
I keep swearing that one day I’ll take one of those to a function.
And when someone complains about how gross it is I’ll swear that I cleaned everything off with Chlorox first…
An outgrowth of potlucks are church and company cookbooks filled with dubious recipes from nice ladies wanting their name in print or simply helping out the cause.
My extended inlaws have their “Enchilada Cassarole” in a church cookbook that appears regularly at family gatherings. It’s basically chili layered with pieces of tortillas and topped with cheese. It’s NOT Mexican, enchiladas, or a cassarole but it’s not bad.
I keep telling my SO to consider the source and ingredients when looking at recipes but she’s thinks that’s too judgemental… YES! Why would anyone expect a nice southern church lady to know anything about Mexican food! 
For those complaining about something that was brought in from a STORE, would you rather have something from a person who perhaps isn’t so great at cooking? Or maybe doesn’t have the time to make something perfect and homemade? Be careful what you wish for! 
She did something fancy and thoughtful to it. It was just the wrong audience. The aforementioned meatballs-in-grape-jelly were always eaten to the last drop, for example.
My complaint was that the ladies that brought store-bought crap always made sure they were first to sign up for desserts so no one had the chance to bake something for the potluck
Both of the above.
Yeah, if the potlucker has been under the weather or is simply a horrible cook, or has suspected dreadful hygiene, yes, I’d rather have store-bought from them. But to bring in store-bought food EVERY TIME is rather disappointing. And to bring in store bought generic orange soda or a stale coffee cake time after time, when both go untouched every time is just a touch rude.
And yes, sometimes those people do grab a dessert slot so that a 99 cent coffee cake from the stale store is their contribution, when Tillie from Accounting makes a Schaum torte to die for, is irritating. Especially when Tillie brings in cocktail wienies in the abhorrent sauce instead, because she only really knows how to bake.