Hasty Pudding Club

The Hasty Pudding Club was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a Junior at Harvard University, in 1795. The Club is named for the traditional American dish that the founding members ate at their first meeting. Originally established in Concordia Discors to bring together undergraduate men in friendship, conversation, and enjoyment, the Hasty Pudding Club, or the Pudding, has grown into a pillar of social life and activity at Harvard. The club is now open to both men and women who are undergraduates at the university. In the past, membership in the Pudding was obligatory to joining waiting clubs and, eventually, final clubs. This tradition is no longer upheld.

The Pudding is the largest private social institution at Harvard University, although it maintains few ties to the school. It is known for weekly "Member's Nights", cocktail parties among the membership and occaisionally their guests, as well as its elaborate parties, such as "Leather and Lace".

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Harvard Krokodiloes, and the Radcliffe Pitches were formed out of the Hasty Pudding Club. The club counts five U.S. Presidents (John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy) among its noteworthy members, as well as many other domestic and international figures.

Membership in the Pudding is gained through a series of lunches, cocktail parties, and other gatherings, which are referred to as the "punch process". Students must be invited to the punch process, commonly by current members but sometimes by club alumni, in order to seek membership in the club. The club is overwhelmingly comprised of white, wealthy students hailing from major cities and prestigious private schools.