Am I the only person who will NOT eat potluck?

[Sannum]

I don't know how clean these people keep their kitchen! I don't know how long it has been sitting out. The whole idea of potluck to me is just asking for food-poisoning on a large scale.

Am I just weird?

[Montauk6]

1. Maybe germophobic, I dunno; lemme ask ya...

Do you find it hard accepting a piece of birthday cake with a lot of candles after someone (other than yourself or a significant other) blew them all out?

[Wapsie B]

2. No not at all.

You're just very concious about good food sanitation. Nothing wrong with that.
I get kinda bummed when there's 50 varieties of macaroni salad being served. Geez, go get some fried chicken or something.

[Starlight]

3. It depends on who is participating, but generally I won't eat it either.

My department at work is constantly having potluck-type lunches and I never join in. For the most part, my coworkers have questionable personal hygiene and constantly gorge themselves with junk food. I'm a vegetarian and I eat healthy. The chance that they'd ever serve *anything* that I'd eat is very slim.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I've eaten a lot of potluck meals, never once been sick from them

and have had a lot of great food!

[NMMNG]

5. I'm unlikely to myself

Who knows if they "test" the food, then put the utensil back into it. How well do they wash their dishes and hands? Has the food been coughed or sneezed over? Do they follow proper storage procedures? :scared:

[Robeson]

6. Not at all. I agree 100%. Eating some cake that was made by someone...

...else, while their kid, who had just had his/her fingers jammed up their nose, then sticking their hands in the batter, just ain't my idea of good food....

[Omphaloskepsis]

7. I won't eat it either...

I won't even eat food my mother makes. I will only eat food made by my sister and my SO. Just because I have been around both of them for so long I know that they are clean. I rewash every dish before I use it unless I know one of the two clean people listed above washed the dish.

The strange thing is I have no problems eating at a fast food place or restaurant. ODD!

[SoCalDem]

8. Pot lucks are fantastic.. Love 'em

Most people who choose to participate, bring their BEST recipes..

My women's club used to have a monthly potluck, and we xeroxed the recipes for what we had brought.. I still make some of those wonderful dishes:)

[WCGreen]

9. Okay... Then don't ever eat at a restaurant....

[GirlinContempt]

22. snap

[StaggerLee]

10. I work with a woman who doesn't eat potluck either

For the very same reasons you mentioned.

Sorta like playin' Russian roulette with your innards. I do it because I'm too scared to jump off high places.

[AngryAmish]

11. You are just weird.

So many of my friends are great cooks. I like to think I can cook but some of these folks put me to shame.

[Hugin]

12. I limit the dishes I will eat...

My rule is... I won't eat anything with Mayo unless I saw it prepared.

There's a few other heuristics.

[hippywife]

13. Weird and anti-social.

People bringing food to a gathering to share and enjoy with their friends is a gathering of friendship and societal unity. Like someone else mentioned, many people bring their best recipes or favorite things to share. It's a personal thing for many people. You reject their offerings, you are rejecting them on some level.

It never hurts to step out of your comfort zone to be polite to someone.

[Cats Against Frist]

16. I agree

Potlucks are a-OK with me, and at my own house, we eat all organic food (including free range chicken and beef), for political, health and sanitation reasons. So, we're a little picky -- but when it comes time to go eat jelly & BBQ sauce-coated meatballs, pizza bread, taco dip and corn-n-oysters (or antipasto, lefse & gravlax rolls, baked brie, and spanokopita, when I'm with my literary friends), I'm first in the line, sick be damned.

The two times in my life that I've had bad food poisoning came from a "green machine" Naked juice, from a sealed bottle, and after eating some pasta with meat sauce at a restaurant in Sweden. People get e.coli from packaged salad mixes, and fast food burgers. If someone is that paranoid about not eating contaminated food, they probably shouldn't eat at all.

I will say that I don't feed my 4-year-old son any hamburger that I haven't purchased and cooked, myself, though.

[LaurenG]

14. I usually stay away from the creamy stuff

and I try to drink heavily. :evilgrin: (It kills bacteria right?)

Ok, not really but I see your point. Ooo, now I'll be thinking about that all season.

[norml]

15. "You know, that's a violation of the food safety laws"

I wonder how many times I've said that at every restaurant I've ever worked in?

Probably not as many times as I've held back from saying it.

Enjoy your food.

[GOPisEvil]

17. Well, if they haven't killed their own family, it can't be TOO bad.

:shrug:

[Hugin]

18. How do we know that...

IT WAS... The potato salad!

[pitohui]

19. do you eat at buffets? do you eat in restaurants?

howard hughes, is that you?

unless you personally cook everything you eat -- and life would be terribly limited if you did, since you could not travel or dine w. friends or family -- then you have eaten food prepared in much less clean places than a family kitchen

[gizmo1979]

20. I hate potluck for one

reason casserole's I hate casserole's.Yuck!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

21. Fuck No I won't eat it lol Anytime I have to ask 'what's in it', and they

hesitate for even a moment to think about it, I won't fucking touch it.

:)

[yellowdogintexas]

23. I grew up Methodist. Pot Luck (or Fellowship Suppers) are part

of the ritual, especially at the small country churches. Man I loved those things.

Everybody brought their very best stuff, too and we had some extraordinary cooks in that little church.

I have worked with individuals whose food I would not ever touch. At one office, there was a particular employee who was just so slovenly and unhealthy looking that her co workers identified her dish and made sure everyone knew which dish was hers. Consistently avoided, unless she brought something from the grocery still in its wrapper.
There were several legendary stories about her, one of which included the pet birds that she let fly loose around her house....need I say more?

I also tend to avoid mayo based foods, unless they are COLD. I also tend to either take something baked, or some sort of vegetable thing that can go in the fridge and is best eaten cold.

I have never become ill from a pot luck meal. However my former mother in law nearly killed us with some leftover turkey one year.

Worst case of food poisoning I ever had was from a restaurant, I am fairly certain. Whatever it was, my husband and I both got it and we still do not know what gave it to us. Food Poisoning can hit as soon as 6 hours from eating up to 24 hours later.