"While queer people often felt rejected from the church communities or family reunions where potlucks or covered-dish suppers really got their start in America, this meal of the commons was swiftly adopted as a covert and nourishing get-together by lesbian communities across the country." I love this. I hadn't thought of potlucks from this perspective before. Thank you. I enjoyed the article.
Sorry for the slow reply — we were waiting to hear back from the author before getting back to you, but haven't managed to get ahold of them yet! Thanks for your comment. Our understanding from editing and fact-checking this piece was that the etymology of "potluck" is distinct from that of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth "potlach", as Nina notes with the history of the term given footnote 1 of this piece.
Thank you for sharing these stories of potlucks and queerness, a world here in the UK I would love to learn more about and I might even host my own making sure everyone has a seat at the table.
So where does this distinct word "potluck" originate from? Because her footnote states alleged definition, and it is a fact that the word used in North America came from native americans. Just like so many others things people use.
Gently, the author of this piece uses they/them pronouns, not she/her, so please take that into account with any further references to their work. From our fact-checking, what we found is that the term originated in Europe, was brought to North America by settlers, and remains in use today. Our main sources for this are the Food dictionary Nina references, and the Oxford Companion to Food (3rd edition from 2014, unfortunately requires institutional access). The intention here is not to erase the deeply rooted and sacred Indigenous tradition of the potlatch but rather to avoid conflating it with a non-traditional practice when, again, as per available research, the terms evolved separately, despite encompassing similar themes.
"While queer people often felt rejected from the church communities or family reunions where potlucks or covered-dish suppers really got their start in America, this meal of the commons was swiftly adopted as a covert and nourishing get-together by lesbian communities across the country." I love this. I hadn't thought of potlucks from this perspective before. Thank you. I enjoyed the article.
Thank you so much for reading!
A wonderful piece! It’s inspired me to host my own potluck 🌈
The word comes from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast; "potlatch" meaning "to give away" or "a gift". They are still here.
Sorry for the slow reply — we were waiting to hear back from the author before getting back to you, but haven't managed to get ahold of them yet! Thanks for your comment. Our understanding from editing and fact-checking this piece was that the etymology of "potluck" is distinct from that of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth "potlach", as Nina notes with the history of the term given footnote 1 of this piece.
Thank you for sharing these stories of potlucks and queerness, a world here in the UK I would love to learn more about and I might even host my own making sure everyone has a seat at the table.
So where does this distinct word "potluck" originate from? Because her footnote states alleged definition, and it is a fact that the word used in North America came from native americans. Just like so many others things people use.
Gently, the author of this piece uses they/them pronouns, not she/her, so please take that into account with any further references to their work. From our fact-checking, what we found is that the term originated in Europe, was brought to North America by settlers, and remains in use today. Our main sources for this are the Food dictionary Nina references, and the Oxford Companion to Food (3rd edition from 2014, unfortunately requires institutional access). The intention here is not to erase the deeply rooted and sacred Indigenous tradition of the potlatch but rather to avoid conflating it with a non-traditional practice when, again, as per available research, the terms evolved separately, despite encompassing similar themes.
"History is written by the winners." - Alex Haley