摘要：In my experience, from having being invited to more than a few potlucks during my time stateside, if you’re Chinese and the vast m
正文翻译
Dante Wong
In my experience, from having being invited to more than a few potlucks during my time stateside, if you’re Chinese and the vast majority of people who are going to be at the potluck are non-East-Asian, non-South-East-Asian, DO NOT bring Chinese vegetable dishes. It will most likely, most probably, not go with any of the foods that usually end up at that sort of potluck.
在美国生活期间，我曾多次受邀参加各种聚餐。根据我的经验，如果你是华人，而聚餐的绝大多数参与者都不是东亚或东南亚裔，那就千万别带中式蔬菜菜。这类菜很可能跟聚餐上常见的食物完全不搭。
I remember when I was living in student accommodation and I received an invitation to my first potluck party, and I decided to bring 空心菜 (water spinach).
I was very naive back then. I thought that hey, since I love eating vegetables and I love eating 空心菜 , then that’s what I’m going to bring to the potluck party.
我记得自己住在学生宿舍时，第一次收到聚餐邀请，就决定带一道空心菜。 那时我太天真了。心想：既然我自己爱吃蔬菜、特别爱吃空心菜，那我就带这个去聚餐吧！
BIG MISTAKE.
A few intreprid souls did give it a try, but after one taste, did not go back for more.
The only people who actually liked it were a Japanese couple and a trio of Malaysians.
Not surprisingly, they were the only Asians at the potluck.
Like I said, I was naive.
结果大错特错。
只有几个胆大的人尝了一口，但尝完之后就再也没人回头吃了。
唯一真正喜欢这道菜的，是一对日本夫妇和三个马来西亚人——不出所料，他们也是聚餐现场仅有的亚洲人。
正如我所说，我当时真的很天真。
After that, every potluck I got invited to, I made the same thing.
Sausage rolls.
Like British-style sausage rolls.
Every potluck.
Sausage rolls.
Sausage rolls.
Sausage rolls.
从那以后，每次被邀请参加聚餐，我都做同一样东西：
香肠卷。
英式香肠卷。
每次都是香肠卷。
香肠卷。
香肠卷。
香肠卷。
And every time, there would be zero leftovers.
One time, a friend cajoled me into bringing something “Asian”.
“You’re Chinese. You worked in Asian restaurants before! You should bring something Chinese or Asian!” he said.
“No,” I said. “I’m going to be bringing sausage rolls.”
“Come on, man! Make something Asian.”
“No. Sausage rolls.”
After several rounds of this, I gave in and told him “Okay. I’ll bring something “Asian”.”
结果每次都一点剩菜都没有。
有一次，一个朋友劝我说：“你可是中国人啊！以前还在中餐馆工作过！你应该带点‘中餐’或者‘亚洲菜’！”
我回答：“不，我要带香肠卷。”
“拜托啦，老兄！做点亚洲风味的吧。”
“不行。香肠卷。”
来回拉扯好几轮后，我终于妥协了，说：“好吧，我带点‘亚洲菜’。”
This time, I prepared.
I went to ask a couple of my non-Asian American cohort.
“What do you guys usually order when you order Chinese food?”
“Noodles” was a very common answer, so I went with that.
I looked up some recipes for American-Chinese-style noodles and went with that, adapting from how I would normally prepare them for myself to how my friends would usually consume them.
Thankfully, my noodles went down pretty well.
这次我做了准备。
我特意问了几位非亚裔的美国朋友：“你们平时点中餐都点什么？”
“面条”是个很常见的答案，于是我就选了这个方向。
我查了一些美式中餐风格的面条食谱，然后按照朋友们平时的口味做了调整，而不是按我自己平时的做法。
谢天谢地，那次做的面条反响还不错。
Fried rice also went down well.
Just don’t put stuff like Chinese sausage or black fungus in it.
No need for fancy ingredients. Just egg fried rice will do the trick.
炒饭也很受欢迎。
只是别放中式腊肠或者黑木耳之类的东西。
不需要用太花哨的食材，最简单的蛋炒饭就足够了。
Conclusion:
Potlucks are not the time and place to bring your favorite food.
Only bring food that the majority of people at the potluck are familiar with.
It’s better to bring something that you yourself might not eat but which you know the vast majority of people at the potluck will enjoy.
结论：
聚餐不是展示你自己最爱吃的食物的场合。
只带那些大多数人都熟悉、会喜欢的食物。
宁可带一道你自己可能不吃、但你知道绝大多数人都会喜欢的菜。
评论翻译
Joan Vredik Broadley
I was invited to a wedding shower where the food was “potluck”. The organizer of the shower never co-ordinated what people would bring, just said how many people would attend. Arrived at the shower and eight of those “7 layer dip” platters were presented. No one brought crackers or chips. Hostess ran to the corner store to buy crackers.
我曾受邀参加一个婚礼送礼派对，主办方说食物采用“聚餐制”，但她从未协调大家各自带什么，只说了大概会有多少人参加。结果到了现场，发现有八盘“七层蘸酱”（罐装豆类品牌BUSH'S Beans的经典产品）！而没有一个人带薯片或饼干。女主人只好跑去街角商店买饼干。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Bob Hunt
I have brought food many times over the years to various functions.
I always take pride in what I take the time to cook and bring and it kind of hurts your feelings if people don’t eat it.
多年来，我参加过很多次活动，也经常带食物去。
我总是为自己花时间精心烹制的菜肴感到自豪，如果没人吃，心里真的会有点受伤。
Here are the two things I have learned not to do over the years:
Never bring anything that looks unappetizing. For instance, something that is a weird color like St. Patrick’s Day green or something that you look at and just go: What is it? People won’t even try it.
I baked a cake one time. Desserts are almost always what I bring to a potluck. One time I made this bundt cake of which I had made many times for myself. It is a really good cake. After the potluck was over, I went into the room to get my plate I brought it on and not one person had even tried it. I was so hurt. I know that is stupid, but I was. So, here was the deal. When you looked at my cake it just looked like a plain old dry bundt cake that someone made from a boxed cake and threw in a bundt pan. Everyone has had them, usually dry as the desert and just not very good. There was my mistake! I should have sliced it up so they could all see what was inside. This wasn’t a boxed cake. It was from scratch and the inside was moist and gooey and full of chocolate chips. Just a great cake. Anyway, I learned from that one.
这些年我学到了两条绝对不能做的事：
第一，永远不要带看起来没食欲的食物。比如颜色怪异的（像圣帕特里克节那种绿色），或者让人一看就嘀咕“这是啥？”的东西——人们根本不会愿意尝试。
有一次我带了一个蛋糕去聚餐，通常我都是带甜点。那次我做的是一个我常给自己做的磅蛋糕，味道其实非常好。但聚餐结束后我去拿盘子时，发现根本没人动过。我特别难过——虽然我知道这有点傻，但我确实伤心了。问题出在哪儿呢？那个蛋糕外表看起来就像超市盒装蛋糕随便倒进圆环模具烤出来的那种，干巴巴的，谁看了都觉得不好吃。其实它是我亲手做的，里面湿润柔软，还塞满了巧克力豆，非常美味。从那以后我明白了：下次应该提前切开，让大家看到里面的真面目！
Profile photo for Bob Wilson
I didn't cook at the time, and at work we were having a little Christmas get together in the office, everyone was supposed to bring an appetizer, something that could be nibbled on, and carried around on a small plate.
I called up the restaurant next door and ordered their biggest order of nachos. It was a huge plate with a small taco shell bowl of hot salsa in the middle.
It was very early in the event, but I had already had a few takers.
那时候我还不怎么会做饭。有一次公司办圣诞小型聚会，要求每人带一道可以边走边吃的小食。
我就打电话给隔壁餐厅，点了他们最大份的墨西哥玉米片——一大盘，中间还配了个小碗装热辣莎莎酱。
活动刚开始没多久，已经有几个人来拿了。
Then a coworker who may have been born in another country, but I knew for sure that he had been in Canada at least 30 years, and had no accent, came over and asked what it was. I was kind of surprised, I assumed everyone knew what nachos were. So I just said nachos, you just tear off a piece. He reached down to the center of the plate, and grabbed the bowl of hot salsa. Before I could say anything, he took a bite out of it. He looked at it, tilted it, so the salsa wouldn't run out, and took a second bite. At first I was mad, thinking he was making fun of my potluck choice. Then the heat hit him, and he said, its very hot. I realized he wasn't doing it on purpose. I was still annoyed that nobody else would have any salsa. He looked like he was going to put the half eaten bowl back on the nacho platter, and I told him not to put half eaten food back on the platter.
这时一位同事走了过来。他可能出生在别的国家，但在加拿大至少住了30年，说话完全没有口音。他问我这是什么。我当时挺惊讶的，以为人人都知道玉米片是什么。我就简单回答：“这是墨西哥玉米片，撕一块就行。”
结果他伸手直接抓起中间那碗热辣莎莎酱，咬了一口！我还没来得及阻止，他就又咬了第二口，一边歪着碗不让酱汁流出来。一开始我以为他在故意取笑我带的食物，有点生气。但很快辣味上来了，他皱着脸说：“好辣！”我才意识到他不是故意的。不过我仍然很恼火，因为其他人都没莎莎酱可蘸了。他甚至还想把咬了一半的酱碗放回玉米片盘子里，我赶紧制止：“别把吃过的放回去！”
He took another bite and wandered off to talk to someone else.
After that,a few people had nachos, but some commented that it was too bad there was no salsa.
So I would say don't bring anything that might confuse the guests.
他接着又咬了一口，然后走开跟别人聊天去了。
后来虽然还有人吃了玉米片，但好几个人抱怨说：“可惜没有莎莎酱了。”
所以我的建议是：别带可能会让客人困惑的食物。
Steve Engebretson
Premade salads, such as potato, macaroni, etc. I took a 3 pound carton of Resers potato salad that I bought at a store. No one touched it. After the dinner, one of the attendees very quietly and politely told me that premade stuff tastes like crap due mostly to all the preservatives. I had never previously tasted it so did not know. I love potato salad and tasted it. That person was right. It tasted like crap. I was so embarrassed. I will never buy that stuff again.
我曾经带过超市买的现成沙拉，比如土豆沙拉、通心粉沙拉之类的。有一次我买了整整三磅Reser’s牌的土豆沙拉。结果没人碰。聚餐结束后，一位客人悄悄、礼貌地告诉我：“这种现成的沙拉吃起来像垃圾，主要是防腐剂太多。”我之前从没尝过，不知道味道这么差。回家一试，果然难吃死了。我尴尬极了，从此再也不买这种东西了。
来源：趣闻捕手一点号
