On Jul 17, 8:46*am, Julia Altshuler > wrote:
>
> Like the others, I hate the idea of communal living, especially communal
> concensus decision making on how to spend money.
>
> But if the idea is to get together with people who share my food tastes
> and to help one another, you can do that in any regular neighborhood.
> [snip some good ideas]

> Organize a potluck dinner club. *Find out who likes to cook as you do,
> and invite them over with specific assignments on what each person
> should bring. *Have the first one at your house. *Then be forward as you
> ask who would like to host the next one. *Weed out the freeloaders.
> This can work.
>
Not as easily as you suggest. In my limited experience I've seen two
kinds of potlucks. Most common by a good measure is when everyone
brings already cooked dishes that may or may not get (re-)heated. The
other type adds the ability for some to use the host's kitchen to cook
something (usually something that cooks fast). The first type is
clearly much easier for the host but I don't like the results much.
You mostly get casseroles and crockpot stuff, not my favorite things
to cook or to eat. To make the second type successful the host
kitchen has to be adaptable for multiple users and the host ends up
with more clean-up work. So while I've always liked the concept of
potlucks, the successful executions have been rare. -aem