Potlucks Are Weird
My wife's annual1 family reunion is here. For those like me who were never actually introduced to anyone over the last decade of attendance, the event's highlight is the big carry-in lunch.
I'm currently making my mother-in-law's famous recipe: Frozen Meatballs dumped into a Crock-Pot with spaghetti sauce2 (it's always a hit. I'll swipe one every time I walk past the table).
Meanwhile, my wife is making an éclair cake, which consists of graham crackers layered with boxed vanilla pudding and topped with a melted can of chocolate icing (it tastes amazing).
My mother-in-law usually brings either the meatball "recipe"3, an equally-secret Crock-Pot mixture of Little Smokies and Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ sauce (also amazing), or her lauded baked beans (two cans of Bush's, microwaved and dumped into a baking dish).
There's certainly a culture around potluck food. It consists heavily of two to three packaged ingredients combined together to make a new dish. When the meal ends, these simple dishes will get the gushing reviews and "can I have the recipe" comments, while the carefully handcrafted dishes will go home with only a slice or two having been eaten.