I personally don’t think joke themes like this make for fun competitions, but you’re still entitled to your opinion. That said, the whole point of theme voting is to make sure that the themes which appear are well liked by a majority of the community. If Potato Salad didn’t make it in, then that means not a large enough number of people thought it was a fun theme, and you almost certainly won’t get enough supporters on your petition as a result.

Hosting a game jam isn’t terribly complicated business, though, and you would have much more luck organizing a side jam themed around potato salad than trying to get Ludum Dare competitors to change their mind and embrace Potato Salad.

I actually did this more in the spirit of a joke, in response to some comments made on the IRC channel at the time. But thank you for taking the time to reply, and share your opinions.