Taking Potluck Seriously

If I thought she could hear me, I would climb onto my roof and shout encouragement to Brenda Bell for her article “Potluck Duty” (SoCal Entertaining, July 26). This is the next best thing. Bravo to her for saying it out loud.

People are getting lazier and lazier, and too many of them wouldn’t know good food if it were in front of them. Most know only fast food and deli fare, which they think of as “good.”

How sad it is!

Jeri Wilson

Fullerton

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I’m looking forward to dishing up Bell’s Real Banana Pudding to wild acclaim. But . . .

Because Bell comes from a family that enjoyed spending an entire day assembling bona fide brownies, she can feel superior to the Betty Crocker or (shudder) Vons bakery set. But I believe she has lost sight of the purpose behind potluck gatherings or, for that matter, most other social get-togethers--namely that social intercourse is the raison d’etre, not the opportunity to show off what a magnificent cook one is.

Yes, it’s nice to have as a potluck guest one who relishes spending the day in the kitchen. Yum, yum! But there are others, often dearer, whose day might have been better spent romping with their children or paying a call on an elderly shut-in.

Janet Weaver

Huntington Beach