[7] The club is named for hasty pudding, a traditional English dish popular at that time in America that the founding members ate at their first meeting.

Each week two members, chosen in alphabetical order, had to provide a pot of hasty pudding for the club to enjoy.

This culminated in a member, Lemuel Hayward, secretly planning to stage a musical on the night he was to host the club's meeting.

On December 13, 1844, Hayward and other members staged Bombastes Furioso in room 11 of Hollis Hall, which began the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

[14] It was named for the hasty pudding, a porridge made from molasses and cornmeal, that its founding members ate at each meeting.

Students gain membership in the club by attending a series of lunches, cocktail parties, and other gatherings—which are referred to as the punch process.