Over the past few days another example of spontaneous order came to mind. I live in a small village that has a great local theatre group. Each year they put on a comedy of some description. On some of the evenings a supper is provided – a spontaneous order in the best “Ladies a plate” tradition.
In the Kiwi vernacular, “Ladies a plate” means that if you receive an invitation for morning or afternoon tea, or in the case of the theatre production, a supper, you bring along a plate of food to share. This being the 21st century, the invitation now simply says “please bring a plate”. For many new arrivals in NZ this has caused some consternation - don’t they have enough plates? given there are two of us, do we need to take two plates? what about cutlery – do we need to bring that as well? And the accompanying embarrassment when they arrive with the plate only to find everyone else has bought food. The assumption that ladies a plate means please bring food is so ingrained in the kiwi psyche that you just don’t think to tell people what it really means. Anyway, the point of sharing this is not about cultural difference, but rather the “spontaneous order” that arises from the food that is shared – no one says bring sausage rolls, or savoury eggs or lamingtons or chocolate cake or biscuits or asparagus rolls or sultana cake or chocolate éclairs … all of these things simply appear as they did that night … a great example of “spontaneous order”. And having lived in other countries, I know that this is not unique to NZ, it may be part of some other food tradition, but spontaneous order never the less emerges.
And for those not sure about what types of food I was describing, check out this lovely cook book – Ladies a Plate – it has many of the recipes.
Comments (4)
Yes I have noticed the same phenomenon here in the UK. I wonder if it is a gender thing: would a group of men do a similar thing - or would they just bring round beers, wine and some snacks?
Posted by David Cronshaw | August 12, 2010 12:21 PM
Posted on August 12, 2010 12:21
Although it started out "gendered" don't think it's as gendered now - makes no difference, you still need to "bring a plate" - although my sister in law's baking is better than my brothers, so he does tend to supply the beer! We have another expression here in NZ "BYO" which means Bring Your Own beer or wine. Some restaurants will be completely BYO and don't sell alcohol but you can bring along your own to drink there - and some restaurants are both Licensed and BYO.
Posted by Chris Woods | August 12, 2010 8:56 PM
Posted on August 12, 2010 20:56
In the US this type of meal is usually called a potluck and I just noticed that, like most everything else in the world, it has its own Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potluck
That said, I've always been amazed that the resulting meal is generally quite good with a good mix of things and in the right proportions. Now and then you end up with a few too many salads or apple pies but it's usually a great example of both spontaneous order and, to some extent, non-spoken communal norms. Sometimes, for instance, if I know that Bill and Sally will be there and they typically bring their special barbecued chicken, then I may actually plan something that will complement it. It's not planned and the choices may not always be conscious, but the results are usually great.
Posted by Steve Holt | August 13, 2010 7:14 PM
Posted on August 13, 2010 19:14
Thanks for the reminder Steve - I can remember some great potluck meals when I lived in the States. My only issue was with having dessert with the main - jello salads!! Took me a while to manage having those with the chicken or steak. It became a source of amusement for some of my US friends to see me go back for a dessert of jello salad and apple pie!
Posted by Chris Woods | August 13, 2010 9:31 PM
Posted on August 13, 2010 21:31