Most of the time, we’re able to eat what we like. Sometimes, though, that choice is taken away from us. Maybe you’re on a first date and don’t want to seem like a wimp. Maybe your friend’s grandma wants you to try something she made.
In any event, unless you truly love every cuisine, you’ll eventually run across some weird food that you need to eat just to be polite. Let’s feast on some of the best answers from this r/AskReddit thread .
The description really sells it.
“Raw, ground sheep meat. I could taste the cold, stringy, undissolved fat with every chew and I could barely choke it down.”
The charcoal’s good for you.
“My aunts garlic bread, she put it in the oven at the same time as the lasagna and by the time it came out, it could’ve been used as a tank shell. Tbh I’m not sure if I ate it, or just poured enough water to soften it.”
Easter dinner with a side of freezer burn.
“The Easter turkey that my MIL had cooked at thanksgiving and placed in the freezer until the night before.”
Freestyle cooking.
“It was supposed to be Hákarl, but I actually really enjoyed it.
The actual answer was cookie cake made by someone who was getting the idea that cooking doesn’t have to be rigid and mathematical, except they forgot to tell her that that doesn’t apply to baking.”
Some dishes should remain a mystery.
“Lutefisk.
Norwegian friend was really excited for me to try it, and I hadn’t the heart to just spit it straight back out because it’s disgusting.”
Hard to mess up ketchup, but here we are.
“My grandma boiled chicken in ketchup once. She also had pickled watermelon for a side that day. Not one of my favorite things I’ve ever eaten.”
If you know, you know.
“Durian my coworker brought. I mean I was curious so it wasn’t just politeness. But I’d heard it smelled like a sewer but was absolutely delicious. In reality it just smelled pretty bad and tasted pretty bad as well. Every burp brought regret.”
-u/GenTelGuy
When dinner bounces in your face.
“Sea snails with my Vietnamese friend. I paid for it when I tried to pull it out with my teeth instead of using the little toothpick. Since it is in a spiral inside the shell, it snapped out of the shell and sprung forth, bouncing off my face and onto the table, leaving my face covered in fishy smelling, briny sea water. I would have run straight to the bathroom, but I was temporarily brineded.”
When the tour guide insists…
“In Arequipa, Peru I drank a blended mixture consisting of molasses, stout beer, raw eggs, some vegetables, and frog skin. Yes, the skin of a frog. It’s a symbol for healthy fertility I guess, and the tour guide insisted we try it.”
Teriyaki sauce in miso soup?
“My husbands grandma made us a ‘miso soup’ that was almost black from teriyaki and soy sauce in it. All of the vegetables in it were slimy and overcooked. It so barely resembled miso that the next day I made some regular miso for myself and she was offended that I didn’t eat the ‘perfectly good’ leftovers. I was all confused until my husband whispered to me that she thought the abomination she served us was miso soup.”
“I’m Johnny Knoxville, welcome to Jackass.”
“I came home from school one day and was hungry and told my mother that and she told me there was blueberry muffins. So I took one and when I took a bite it was the driest most flavorless thing I’ve ever eaten. So as to not upset my mother I ate it and when I came back my mom was laughing and I asked what was funny and she told me they were a friend of her’s muffins and my brother had spit them out when he tried it. So basically I got pranked by my mom.”
Salty bean cookies.
“My beloved but very elderly gram-in-law made chocolate chip cookies in which she messed up the sugar and salt AND mistook the dried black beans in her cupboard for chocolate chips. Ohhhhh dear.”
Salt bae.
“Girlfriend in college wanted to be nice to my roommate and me because she often ate over at our apartment, so she was to cook dinner one night. Teriyaki steak.
Somewhere along the line, she got tbsp and cup mixed up, and added 3/4 cup of salt. Pretty sure we were nearing the LD50 of salt for a human, but I ate as much as I could, and drank as much water as I could for the next few days…”
Who doesn’t love Jello?
“Was working in China. They had a big celebratory banquet for us. They served a local delicacy – ‘sea worms.’ It was a white tube that when immersed in near freezing water essentially dissolved into a gelatinous lump. Think fish-flavored jello, with just a hint of residual gristle. Ugh. Had to eat several servings while downing shots of maotai.”
The gift that keeps on giving.
“My ex-sister in law’s spinach casserole. My daughter puked it up into their heat vent and I had to clean it out.”
Probably smelled really good.
“When my sister was 5, she had my mom, friend and I sit for her tea party.
She made us drinks.
I asked her what she gave us and she said it was water and sparkle perfume.”
Is it even sushi at that point?
“My grandpa made sushi. With tuna, rhubarb, yellow mustard, seaweed, and undercooked rice. Watched me eat it make sure I got a taste of each ingredient. The entire time I ate it, I thought ‘this tough bastard made it through the beaches of Normandy, eat the sushi and smile.'”
At least someone was happy.
“My sister was trying to be nice after I had taken care of her for 3 years while she dealt with her mental health.
She tried to make me a pizza. It came out more like charcoal. Like fully all black.
She tried so hard to make me happy for once that I had to at least get some of it down; ‘It’s not as burnt as it looks! Really yummy.’ She was really happy with herself after that.”
When dinner becomes a sweat lodge.
“A girl I dated was trying to impress me, so she tried to make green curry. She added too much curry paste and we both sat there sweating and crying.”
Chili do be like that sometimes.
“My grandmother’s chili. My grandmother is a terrible, terrible cook. I’ve gotten food poisoning multiple times from her but this chili nearly killed me. She made it in her crockpot. I lived with my grandparents, my younger sister and our mom at the time, my mom was out of town. The first night the chili was good. Everything was fine. She made a huge batch so we had it again the next day. It was still okay, a little bit off but not the worst thing I ever ate. I was so sick that night. Spewing from both ends.”
