The Quickest Potluck Fix

Erika Schickel’s story brought back memories of being a hapless single dad with two elementary school-age sons and facing my first school potluck with no prep time or any cooking skills (“The Potluck Crusader,” Dec. 17). I raced home from work, picked up the kids at day care and figured we could sneak in late, unobserved. I recalled the amazing dishes from the previous year, all labeled with their exotic countries of origin, and cringed at my culinary incompetence.

Suddenly, the Colonel’s smiling face was beaming through my windshield! I pulled in, grabbed the giant bucket meal and got to the school in time to place it on one of the tables with a quickly lettered sign: “Kentucky.” It was the first emptied food container of the night.

Dave Echt

Culver City

I love multicultural foods. I also love my mother’s Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes, and I am very proud of my Anglo Scottish heritage. Why does Schickel find it necessary to denigrate the White People? If she chooses to view her ancestors simply as a long line of racists and oppressors, that is her problem. Don’t include the rest of us. I resent the implication.

Kim MacKenzie Orlando

Los Angeles