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As a girl, Meester did local theater in Marco Island, Fla. The only stage in town was a church, so the venue moonlighted as the host of Girl Scout meetings, potluck dinners and local productions.

She reminisced about the potlucks the women would throw to mark holidays.

“What we lack in restaurant culture we make up in potlucks and dinner parties, and with that comes family recipes that have been made for generations,” Yeh said.

It shows up at Easter or maybe at a spring potluck, often slightly too sweet and overloaded with nuts or raisins.

It showed up at church potlucks under domed foil lids, in school lunch trays beside pools of canned peaches, and on our weeknight table with unfussy regularity.