0302F: Sharing Food

When you have to bring food to a gathering or when visiting someone, what do you bring? It's rather interesting to think about it or just observe what people opt to contribute to any sort of potluck celebration. And almost any Filipino gathering seems to be an opportunity to come bearing gifts of food or snacks. 

There are those who'd rush to bring the more tertiary needs of an event instead of thinking of which food item works best. You know the type - the ones who volunteer to bring paper plates, disposable utensils, or soda by the liter. It's not that these things aren't needed at a gathering, but they also don't reveal any indirect recommendations you're making about the food you bring. At least that is one of my assumptions - people tend to bring things they personally like and want to share with others. Or, worst case, you bring something that you've heard or believe tastes good even if you haven't eaten it yourself.

But I guess it can be different when you have to bring food to share (i.e. you will also eat) versus food you leave as a gift. Sure, in both cases it makes more sense to bring stuff you like since gifting food that doesn't taste great would probably reflect poorly on you. Then again, should we also factor in how much you like the person you're bringing food to?

Fruit seems like a healthy gift, but what if they're not in a situation where they can store the fruit safely before it spoils? I guess that applies to any food you might bring that has a risk of going bad quickly. This is of particular concern when you bring food to a location that is not someone's home, like a picnic, a hospital visit, or even a funeral. There are lots of weird instances when we feel the need to bring something and not come empty-handed, and maybe not factor in what the recipients are going to do with the food after.

There's the way food compounds in such situations. You might end up with a lot of the same thing, so you can't consume it all at once. Or you eat too much of whatever food arrives earlier and end up not being able to immediately taste stuff that arrives later. 

So what is safe to bring? Do you prefer that the receipient/host dictates what to bring? Or do you have defaults that are your go-to that you bring every time?