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The Hasty Pudding Club was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a Junior at Harvard University, in 1790. 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 (it is now coed) in friendship, conversation, and enjoyment, the Hasty Pudding Club, or the Pudding, has grown into a pillar of social life and activity at Harvard. Membership in the Pudding is selective and 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 initial punch process, commonly by current members but sometimes by club alumni, in order to seek membership in the club. 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 maintains few ties to the school, and owns a clubhouse adjacent to Harvard Square. It is known for weekly "Member's Nights", dinner and cocktail parties, as well as its elaborate theme parties, such as "Leather and Lace".

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.

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Radcliffe Pitches, and the Harvard Krokodiloes were formed out of the Hasty Pudding Club. Although many formal ties between the club and these groups have weakened, members of these groups may participate in social club activities without participating in the punch process or paying the initiation fee.