Potluck food question

[marbel]

I have to take a main dish, and either a side dish or dessert, to a picnic tonight.  There will be no way to cook or heat food there, so I had to think of a cold main dish. (I don't have a food carrier that keeps food hot.)

 

So I made a big pasta salad, that contains meat, cheese, vegetables.  I'm also taking a dessert. 

 

I was talking with a couple of people about our contributions, and they said "no, pasta salad is a side dish!"   Sigh.

 

Anyway, I'm taking it, because it's made and TO ME it's fine for a main dish.   But now I'm curious what other people think. Maybe people would be more pleased if I brought a bucket of KFC rather than this beautiful, hearty salad.

 

As an aside, I don't know how people get so rigid in their thinking.  It's one meal, folks!  You can do without something hot for one meal now and then, can't you?  Don't people like sometimes to just eat side dishes for a meal anyway?   I love dinners that consist mainly of appetizers and salad. 

 

ETA: It is going to be about 900 degrees outside tonight.  Who wants to cook anyway?

 

ETA 2:  correcting "side dish or salad" to "side dish or DESSERT." 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2016 by marbel

[KatieJ]

In a heart beat I would consider that a main meal dish.  It's summer!

[Loowit]

I wouldn't consider it a main dish, but it wouldn't bother me at all if someone brought it as a main dish.  I find potlucks show a lot of differences in family cultures and it can be a lot of fun to eat outside of our normal box sometimes.

 

One of my children would refuse to see it as a main dish, but he is the one who refused to eat cake at a meeting a while back because there were only spoons and cake must be eaten with a fork.  I am hoping he grows out of this.

[Guest]

Just take it. You're fine.

[Ravin]

We eat something like that for dinner, especially in summer, quite regularly. You're fine.

[TravelingChris]

I would consider it a main dish, particularly if it has meat in it.

[goldberry]

That would be a main dish to me.  We love pasta salads in the summer for dinner.

 

ETA, if it was just pasta and mayo, then no.

Edited July 27, 2016 by goldberry

[catz]

With meat and cheese and no opportunity to warm up food? It's a main dish.

[Eagle]

That's a main dish. Take it and enjoy!

[hornblower]

Even if you'd made it vegetarian or vegan it still could serve as a main dish. 

I don't get the distinctions between various dishes.... But then I'd be ok with eating a dessert for dinner too :D 

[vonfirmath]

In a heart beat I would consider that a main meal dish.  It's summer!

 

Agreed. It has meat. Its a main meal dish.

[zoobie]

Oh for Pete's sake. If it were warm instead of cold, it would be dinner, right? It's a potluck. Those people need to quit being the potluck police, and I would answer them with "hmm, not sure yet" when they ask for future events. 

[Miss Tick]

How do they classify spaghetti and meatballs, I wonder?

 

Silly people.

[Tammyla]

It's a main dish at my house...and I don't put meat in mine.

 

  

P :lol: T  Luckpolice...

 

[MFG]

You are fine.

Bringing food to church is the bane of my existence.

[LuvToRead]

Sounds like a main dish to me!  It sounds delicious!

[Baseball mom]

It is a main dish to me :thumbup:  

[KarenNC]

Main dish. A vegetable lasagna would be a main dish, and this has similar ingredients, plus meat.

 

FTR, if it's the "salad" term that gets them, a green-based salad (rather than a pasta salad) can be a main dish as well, depending on the ingredients. Check pretty much any restaurant menu. :)

[marbel]

PotLuck Police :lol:   Indeed.

 

People are funny.  I do have to say though that my husband pretty much falls into the camp of main dish = hot and preferably including meat, but he was the one who suggested this particular pasta/cheese/salami/olive/veg melange as my main dish contribution. 

 

But now that I'm thinking about this, I remember that when some people heard the menu for my wedding reception, they were scandalized that we didn't have a sit-down meal but just "heavy hors d'oeuvres" even though the food was fantastic and more than enough for a meal even though our event was from 2pm - 6pm and thus not over a mealtime.  Humph. :lol: :lol:   

 

Thanks for playing.  :-)

 

 

[J-rap]

It's definitely a main dish!  We have it many times throughout the summer.  If we went to the potluck, it's probably one of the few things my family would eat.  :)

 

 

[Tap]

Qualifies as a main dish for me. I would put it in the main dish area of the pot luck and let it go. 

 

Even if it didn't count.....having a plate full of side dishes works just fine in my book. 

[KarenNC]

PotLuck Police :lol:   Indeed.

 

People are funny.  I do have to say though that my husband pretty much falls into the camp of main dish = hot and preferably including meat, but he was the one who suggested this particular pasta/cheese/salami/olive/veg melange as my main dish contribution. 

 

But now that I'm thinking about this, I remember that when some people heard the menu for my wedding reception, they were scandalized that we didn't have a sit-down meal but just "heavy hors d'oeuvres" even though the food was fantastic and more than enough for a meal even though our event was from 2pm - 6pm and thus not over a mealtime.  Humph. :lol: :lol:   

 

Thanks for playing.  :-)

 

I hear you about the wedding reception! Ignore them!

 

In my family's social, religious, and economic circles (smallish town in NC, small Presbyterian Church, working to lower middle class), it was perfectly normal to have one's reception at the church for an early afternoon wedding, and such receptions normally included punch, cake, nuts, mints, cheese straws, sausage balls, maybe some finger sandwiches and/or deviled eggs if the person wanted to beef it up. Our wedding reception was in the afternoon at the church and included all of the above. I made the wedding cake, my husband's grandmother decorated it, friends and family pitched in with the food. The whole wedding was pretty low-key and DIY.

 

My cousins (from the LA area, upper middle class, basically secular) called it (derogatorily) a "chip and dip reception,"  in contrast to their receptions with sit down meals, dancing, dollar dances (which totally scandalized me at the time!), live music, open bar, and a horse and carriage/cruise respectively.

 

To each his own and mind his own business! Our reception fit our budget, our wishes, and our lifestyle perfectly, as I'm sure yours did.

[8circles]

That's what I brought as a main dish to the church potluck last week, except mine was meatless.  I think you're good.

[happi duck]

I like *real* potlucks where everyone brings whatever they want...more fun to cook for and more fun to attend!

 

I don't like being told what category to bring.

 

That said, in a cookbook I'd expect to find pasta salad listed as a side dish.

[Annie G]

I vote main dish. And I hope you have it in a Marnie approved 9 by 13 dish with a lid.   :closedeyes:

[Seasider]

It has meat in it, so it gets my vote for main dish.

 

If every family has to bring that much food, there will be plenty. No worries.

[Ellie]

I have to take a main dish, and either a side dish or dessert, to a picnic tonight.  There will be no way to cook or heat food there, so I had to think of a cold main dish. (I don't have a food carrier that keeps food hot.)

 

So I made a big pasta salad, that contains meat, cheese, vegetables.  I'm also taking a dessert. 

 

I was talking with a couple of people about our contributions, and they said "no, pasta salad is a side dish!"   Sigh.

 

Anyway, I'm taking it, because it's made and TO ME it's fine for a main dish.   But now I'm curious what other people think. Maybe people would be more pleased if I brought a bucket of KFC rather than this beautiful, hearty salad.

 

As an aside, I don't know how people get so rigid in their thinking.  It's one meal, folks!  You can do without something hot for one meal now and then, can't you?  Don't people like sometimes to just eat side dishes for a meal anyway?   I love dinners that consist mainly of appetizers and salad. 

 

ETA: It is going to be about 900 degrees outside tonight.  Who wants to cook anyway?

 

ETA 2:  correcting "side dish or salad" to "side dish or DESSERT." 

 

Sounds like a main dish to me. Besides which it's a *potluck.* If the organizers want specific stuff, then they can have the meal catered. Otherwise, as long as there is enough food for people to eat, then they should be happy with that.

 

FTR, I don't like telling people what to bring to a potluck. Because pot*luck.*

 

[heartlikealion]

I think of it as a side but eat it as a meal all the time lol dh tells me it is a side. But mine does not have meat.

 

Others will bring main dishes or no?

 

I would prefer it to KFC. I think the meat helps sell it as main dish.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I think it's fine as a main dish, especially in summer.  What really would be the difference with that verses pasta with tomato sauce?

 

 

[marbel]

I'm guessing that in people's minds, hot pasta = main dish, cold pasta = side.  But as someone else said, "salad" means side to most people.

 

Plenty of people bringing main dishes, since everyone was asked to.

 

And then, at the last minute, the hosts said someone was bringing a grill, so people could bring food to grill.  In my experience, that is a big chaotic hassle with a large group, so more pasta for us.  :-)

[Seasider]

I'm guessing that in people's minds, hot pasta = main dish, cold pasta = side. But as someone else said, "salad" means side to most people.

 

Plenty of people bringing main dishes, since everyone was asked to.

 

And then, at the last minute, the hosts said someone was bringing a grill, so people could bring food to grill. In my experience, that is a big chaotic hassle with a large group, so more pasta for us. :-)

Oh yeah. Big crowd + 1 grill = late meals. Stick with your pasta (it sounds yummy, anyway, and you know whose clean kitchen it came out!).

[marbel]

So, I got to the dinner and found that there was one table for mains and sides, and it was covered up in pasta salads.  Someone had brought cold baked chicken and there was a crockpot with something in it.  Mostly though it was pasta salads!  I found it rather humorous. 

 

It was all fine.  But I discovered that this salad which I had loved, is not that great to me now.  Some flavor bothered me. 

 

Anyway there was plenty of food for all, as always!