Go Behind-The-Scenes of ClassBento's Festive Potluck Lunch

At ClassBento we love food! And the only thing we love more than food is Christmas. Put the two together and you get a Christmas Potluck — the warmest way to kick off the festive season with your coworkers, family, or friends.

We bring our favourite homemade holiday dishes into ClassBento HQ and spread them out on the table. A festive smorgasbord of summer eats and desserts — a refreshing mango salad, chickpea flour cake and sweet and salty ‘chocolate chips’.

With Christmas pop playing in the background, we catch-up and tuck into our delicious feast. We even learn new things about each other, like how fish is a festive staple for Customer Service Hero Rez and pasta is a must for Graphic Designer Veronica and her family. It’s once again a reminder that no matter our cultural background, food brings people together during the holidays.

Our potluck spread…

• Home-baked muffins

• Khaman Dhokla — a family tradition

• Nan’s fried rice

• The neighbour’s trifle

• MasterChef-inspired chocolate chips

Home-baked muffins for Christmas morning on the beach…

Content Marketing Executive Charlotte unboxes a batch of muffins, a tasty reminder of a new tradition her family started in recent years. 

“We started doing champagne breakfast with freshly baked muffins down at the beach every Christmas since me and my brothers have been older,” she says. Sitting down and eating with her family has always been a favourite pastime of hers and this new tradition is no different. 

Khaman Dhokla for every occasion!

Senior Software Designer Veeral describes his dish as a chickpea flour cake called Khaman Dhokla, a famous regional snack from Gujarat, India. The perfect combination of sweet, savoury and spicy, it’s something none of us have tried before but is an immediate favourite.

Whether it be Christmas, Diwali or a family picnic, Khaman Dhokla is a must-eat for Veeral. “It’s been passed down through generations and we all cook that dish, from my grandmother to my grandmother's grandmother,” Veeral says.

Nan’s fried rice to get everyone in the holiday spirit…

Content Writer Kellie has made her nan’s fried rice, a much-loved family recipe. 

“In the run-up to Christmas my nan starts making her fried rice and we eat it all the time,” she says. “As soon as I have the first bite I just know that Christmas is coming — it's quite special to our family.”

A scoop of trifle to make new friends…

For Customer Service Hero Fern, Christmas is all about that classic Aussie dessert.

“Since I moved to Australia, I’ve spent Christmas with my next-door neighbours and every year their mum makes her signature trifle for dessert,” Fern says. “We pretty much grew up together and they feel like part of my extended family.”

Chocolate chips to share around the table…

Inspired by a MasterChef dessert, Graphic Designer Veronica passes around her highly-anticipated chocolate-coated potato chips. You can hear the collective delight as we all take the first bite, the perfect combination of sweet and salty exciting our tastebuds.

Veronica has a long-time Christmas tradition of cooking desserts with her mum and sharing them with the whole family. “If I've made a big batch of things, I give them out to my relatives because I like to do things from my heart,” she says.

What would you make?

We’re guessing something totally different, but completely delicious! So go on, get the gang together for your own festive potluck or create and share a meal at group cooking classes this holiday season. No matter the dishes, we can guarantee you’ll leave armed with full bellies, mountains of leftovers and an appreciation for each other’s festive foodie traditions.