This Party Calls For A Theme: Alphabet Potlucks

Photo Courtesy of ‘Indelible Edibles’

Potlucks.

Potlucks can be a wonderful way to entertain for several reasons.  For one thing, the host doesn’t have the responsibility and expense of cooking all the food for their guests.  Another great aspect of potlucks is the idea of trying a dish of someones that you have never had, and perhaps even getting their recipe to add to your collection.

A friend of mine in Wisconsin went to a monthly potluck that had such a great theme that after I moved to Texas, I decided to borrow the idea and start a monthly potluck with the friends that I had made here.

The Alphabet Potluck

You can do this a couple different ways.  One way is to go through the alphabet and each month you make food for the potluck that starts with the letter for that month.  So ‘A’ could be apple pie, alfredo  sauce over angel hair pasta,  angel food cake, salad made with arugula, ants on a log, etc.

Photo Courtesy of ‘The Cooking Photographer’

The way that I decided to do it was a bit more complicated.  We started with ‘A’ and each month went down through the alphabet.  However, the food didn’t start with that letter.  The place of origin did!!!  The place could be a City, County, State, Provence, Country, or Continent.  So for instance, ‘B’ could be Baltimore, Baghdad, Burma, British Isles, Brussels, etc.

Each month we would rotate homes so that no one was stuck hosting each month.  We would eat and then play board games.  It was designated as the third Friday of every month so that people could plan on always being free and available.  Life gets so busy that it was really nice to have a time each month set aside to get together as friends and share great food and laughter!  We also had an opportunity to try some really interesting and amazing foods.  You were forced each month to step outside of your comfort zone and look for a recipe based on the letter of that month.  Plus it was a great lesson in geography and culture as we learned about different cities and countries when searching for certain, more difficult letters.

If you are looking for a great way to get together with friends once a month, or to spice up an already scheduled monthly potluck, I highly recommend the Alphabet Potluck!  How else are you going to get to try that great recipe from Zimbabwe?