Worst food you’ve eaten on holiday?

[Ioki]

Following on from the worst restaurant you’ve eaten at thread... what’s the worst food you’ve eaten on holiday?

For me it was a... unidentifiable thing... from the hotel buffet we had in Spain. It was a cube, the colour and consistency of watermelon that sort of, disintegrated in the mouth... there were yellow and green chunks of again unidentifiable things inside the cube. The entire thing smelled and tasted like a sweaty gym sock and I swear I felt my tastebuds shrivel up upon tasting.

There was no card on the buffet to say what it was so to this day I have no idea but it remains the single most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten, and I’m usually a really adventurous eater on holiday! :o

Bouillabaisse at a little restaurant on the quayside in Marseille. Dh had had bouillabaisse before, elsewhere in France, and raved about it, and I love seafood, so I was really looking forward to it.

The fish looked old and tired, and had no flavour, and the soup part was thin, oily and tasteless. I took one taste, and left the rest.

Both in Cyprus. Raw prawns and raw liver, both were meant to be cooked.

Tripe in Italy - served to us in a restaurant owned by friends of the people we were staying with. No way we could say no without seeming really rude. Ate the whole lot [bleurgh]

I love all food including durian and (pre my pescatarian stage) proper andouillette. Brawn, too, there was no holding me back. I had a passion for steak tartare and ate it regularly in the UK.

But twice in France it incapacitated me. Clearly you need to choose your restaurants. I'd think several times before "all the food you can eat" places or anywhere that offered a serve yourself buffet over more than an hour. Just on hygiene reasons.

sea urchin is lovely though - with lemon. I used to find them myself ...

The speciality risotto in Mantova in Italy. Tourist info had told me it was famous for pumpkin risotto in the Autumn. When it arrived I recalled that the other speciality was donkey

Jellyfish when in Singapore, it tasted of gristle and seawater.

@Loopylou this year we stayed self catering in Marmaris. Admittedly not a Mecca of great food but we did find some places with gorgeous food. Alanya and Fethiye had better choices. The all inclusive can be a bit weird sometimes but Turkey at the moment seems cheaper to eat out than pay for an all inclusive. We are like royalty and still saved money

Gbenjet, the Maltese sheep cheese. A perfect balance of turps, pepper, and boiled piss.

I don't mind durian, but I'm married to a Malaysian so I've had time to get used to it. I can only eat it for about 10 mins before I have to leave the area because I can't take the smell anymore.

I can't stand slimy things so probably the worst thing I've eaten was a chinese braised tofu dish, the sauce was gluey and the tofu was really soft and wet. It was horrible.

A risotto. In Italy.

I made it myself  so I have no one else to blame.

We had no stock (self catering, forgot to buy). So I used water. Then added the veg and prawns and garlic. Seemed, well, watery, so I added red wine. Obvs. Added a bit of colour too .
Finished it with Parmesan.

Looked like cat puke. Tasted like Satan's rancid arse.

Fermented mare's milk. In Uzbekistan.

I'm not a fan of milk generally, but that stuff smelled and tasted of vomit.

Oh gawd reading about fermented horse cheese has me all clammy

Oh i read cheese but still

A type of cheese in Egypt called Mish. It is left on people's rooftops for months, sometimes years to 'improve' and often contains tiny worms. I had to run to the bathroom to wash my mouth out!

I ordered andouille sausage in brittany this summer. It was vile. But that wasnt the worst. For a starter on a special night out we went to a restaurant on their first night open, ever. My seafood starter was a gigantic plate of cold seafood including 3 varieties of seasnails. One of these was the size of my fist and still had green sea slime on the outside. Shudder.

The worst cheese I've ever hard (apart from vegan Sheese, which isn't cheese obviously) was a firm, rubbery orange substance offered by Norwegian students in my halls 18 years ago.

I've never been to Norway and that might be why.

The thing with andouillette is to very thinly slice it, cook it to drive off most the smell of the pig's arse, and then eat it with enough mustard to cover up the rest.

DisgracetotheYChromosome my method is to very thinly slice it... then you'll find that it takes up much less room in the bin.