8 Ways American Potlucks Haven’t Been The Same Since The ’90s

For as long as people have been people, we’ve enjoyed sharing food with one another. Potlucks are an important way to build community, nurture friendships, and not-humbly show off our mastery of the latest culinary trends. The thing about trends is that they evolve over time, and the thing about time is that it passes faster than you think. The 1990s were 30 years ago, whether you like that fact or not, and potlucks have changed a lot since then.

Not all change is bad. It’s sometimes fun to look at different things people used to eat in the past, like once-popular picnic dishes that we don’t see anymore. Maybe some old styles of food sound odd or even nauseating, but maybe there’s some inspiration to be found in the past. Hey, we even think contemporary potlucks should bring back some retro finger foods. Either way, it’s worth it simply to take stock of where we’ve been and where we are currently, culturally speaking. How people get together and share food says a lot about society. Here are some ways potlucks have changed since the 1990s.

Food trends come and go. Some dishes have real staying power, while others make you say, “Whoa, I haven’t seen that since Tupac was alive.” Maybe you’ve eaten a Caesar salad recently, but you have to understand that Caesar salad was absolutely everywhere in the ’90s. Same deal with chocolate lava cake. That decadent dessert might still be on the Chili’s menu in 2025, but people used to want to attempt lava cakes at home to serve them to friends and family. Sumptuous recipes like this feel like holdovers from the excesses of the 1980s. If the foods of the 1950s were at least partially defined by the presence of Jell-O, the later decades of the 20th century seemed to have a love of creaminess. That wasn’t the only trend popping off, though.

A huge buzzword in the 1990s was “fusion,” with recipes like Asian chicken salad having a moment. Fusion recipes combined two or more disparate cuisines in novel ways, with mixed results. In a literal, definitional sense, fusion food has been happening for millennia, as people move and cultures interact. A criticism that the fusion trend of the ’90s ran into, however, was the idea that chefs would carelessly borrow and mishmash whatever ingredients they felt like in ways that could easily become disrespectful to the cultures they were borrowing from. Something like a cheeseburger wonton, for instance, might seem like the relentless imposition of American tastes on traditional cuisines. For that reason and others, chefs don’t really use the word “fusion” in the 2020s.

We don’t use the word fusion much in the 2020s, but there’s still an interest in bringing disparate flavor profiles together. Some studies have shown that Gen Z really likes sweet and spicy foods, and really likes global cuisine. You might go to a potluck today and find jalapeño mac and cheese alongside Swedish meatballs. After all, what actually defines fusion depends a lot on who you’re asking. The difference between fusion and being open to cuisine from around the world seems to lie in intentionality and cultural curiosity. Rather than a cheeseburger wonton, today, we might see Sriracha honey Chex Mix. That’s adding a distinctly Asian flavor to a uniquely American food — a food that benefits from a little extra flavor, too. Ingredients complement, rather than clash.

Home cooks today also seem to like putting their own spin on classic dishes, like a pasta salad with a pesto base instead of mayo. Someone might make a pimento cheese recipe that comes from a relative, but with some signature flourish. Beyond mixing up old school recipes, what’s more of a signature than growing your own food? As more people have home gardens or sourdough starters, a potluck in the 2020s might include homemade bread or even jellies and jams.

There was an unfortunately myopic view of what health looked like in the 1990s, and this led to a lot of fat-free foods, or fat-free ingredients. If you were bringing a homemade Caesar salad to a potluck, chances are that the dressing was fat-free Caesar dressing. Lay’s WOW chips were another prime example of the low-fat and fat-free craze. Lay’s WOW chips were a failure not only because of the infamous gastrointestinal issues they caused, but also because of the reductive attitude that a fat free label basically counted as a get out of jail free card for excessive consumption. Go to a party and eat as many chips as you want, the capitalized and exclamatory label on WOW chips seemed to suggest.

There was an awareness of how eating affected health and wellness, but a laser focus on only one part of the nutrition label. Many people found themselves in the position of one Reddit commenter, saying how she and her mom would eat Lean Cuisines while her dad ate what she termed “a real dinner.” Our understanding of food and wellness has evolved since then, so now there’s one clear message: Go ahead and use full-fat ingredients if you’re making food for a potluck.

In the 2020s, there is a more multifaceted approach to wellness in food. Vegetarianism is on the rise worldwide. People are more aware of things like gut health and gluten sensitivity, not to mention religious diets, and potluck dishes have adjusted accordingly. At a 2020s potluck, diverse dietary journeys are not a curiosity, but the norm. Dishes will often have labels or placards with either common allergens and sensitive ingredients or even full ingredient lists. This is a basic kindness for people with dietary restrictions, and makes the party easier to navigate for everybody.

Social media has also had an unmistakable influence on food culture and potlucks. The buffet at your party is more likely to be packed with dishes that look good on Instagram than, say, the beige casseroles of yesteryear. Your friends might bring over homemade versions of viral food trends — if that was happening in the ’90s, it happened at the speed of magazine and newspaper publishing. The rise of social media has also coincided with people being busier, meaning you’re more likely to see store-bought food at a potluck in the 2020s. If you don’t want to resort to grocery store food, but you do want to impress your health-conscious friends? Check out our selection of healthy summer side dishes.

Culture in the United States has been trending toward less formality for decades. Back in the 1990s, things like fine china and place settings were far more common at potlucks and dinner parties. People were more likely to wear dressier clothes. You were even more likely to be served, rather than taking a plate at a buffet. Maybe people were more formal back then, or maybe Martha Stewart’s homemaking superstardom inspired hosts everywhere to lean into extravagance. Whatever the case, the function looked different back in the day.

So, what happened? When Millennials killed the napkin industry, did they also murder formality at potlucks, too? Not quite. Every generation responds to the world and adulthood differently. Human interaction is not static, and neither are manners or etiquette. Formal conventions are simply how we agree to party. If your party means making place settings reminiscent of the first class table that confused Jack in the movie “Titanic,” then you do you. Just don’t be surprised if your peers party differently. 

Social norms change over time, and at a certain point, some old rules simply don’t apply anymore. Ask etiquette experts, though, and they’ll tell you this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The heart of a good gathering is expressions of love, not guests’ names calligraphed onto place settings. In the 2020s, being respectful and showing appreciation is more about what you say and do, rather than how much effort you put into appearances. The years after COVID lockdowns have maybe stunted some social interactions, but human beings will always crave coming together and sharing food, even if the party looks different to what our parents used to throw.

People in the 2020s might be less concerned with things like assigned seating and fine china, but that doesn’t mean that flexing has disappeared. There is absolutely more of an interest in presentation. Will your dish pop on Instagram? The rise of social media has led to people focusing on visual appeal in new ways. Maybe in the past, people would talk about what nice silverware Susan had when she hosted a potluck last week. In the 2020s, people might check Instagram or Snapchat to see who was at what gathering, and if any dishes went viral. 

For people who grew up in the ’90s, looking back on the way things used to be can sometimes be disorienting. Did we really have third helpings of Aunt Sally’s macaroni salad at that summer barbecue? In our defense, it’s easy to forget how long food has been sitting out at a party. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on your watch, because most foods shouldn’t be left at room temperature for two hours. Hot foods should be kept hot, or at least warm. E. coli and Salmonella are not welcome guests at the function. If you’ve been on top of food safety for the last 30 years, more power to you. We’re willing to bet, however, that many readers are thinking back to potluck practices from childhood and thinking about doing things differently in the future.

It’s also worth keeping an eye on other guests. One writer for the magazine Garden & Gun recounted a story of seeing another child throw bitten-into oranges back into a punch bowl. To the writer’s horror, all she and her father did was avoid the punch all day. Witnessing such an act would be a five-alarm fire in the post-COVID world, but was apparently just an odd quirk in the 1990s.

There might be a vaccine for COVID-19 now, but that doesn’t mean people have forgotten how germs spread. People are now more aware of health risks at gatherings, and that includes food safety. Explainers on how to handle mandatory potlucks have cropped up on both websites like Reddit, and official channels like the USDA website. Social distancing might be a thing of the past, but it’s not a thing of the distant past.

Still, it’s worth it to get together and share food. If you’ve thought about organizing a potluck, but have some anxiety about not living up to the shindigs your parents used to host? Throw caution to the wind. All you need are friends and food. The rest is up to you. Potlucks can be community builders, places where people of all different backgrounds can gather for good times. 

It’s entirely possible to be vigilant about food safety, COVID and other germs, and guests’ dietary restrictions while still having potlucks. In fact, it’s necessary. Between COVID and tariffs potentially increasing grocery prices, the story of the 2020s has been uncertainty. In times of uncertainty, you need to lean on good times with friends all the more.