What's the worst meal you've been served at a wedding?

[Higgeldypiggeldy35]

I'm veggie so unfortunately have had my fair share of shitty wedding meals as the vegetarians often seem to get shafted but this one takes the biscuit. Fancy wedding, very expensive and exclusive venue, meat eaters had a feast and it looked amazing, I was served......a grilled mushroom, and it was cold. This place is probably £100 per head at the very least and the best they could rustle up for a vegetarian was a mushroom. So, make me feel better, what's the worst meal you've been served?
This is meant to be light hearted 🐱

@Surewhynot

I find it really bizarre that rather than being grateful for food that respects one’s preferences, one expects one’s favourite type of food.

You have fundamentally misunderstood literally all the posts on this thread from vegetarians, vegans, coeliacs and anyone else with food intolerances.

We are not looking for our favourite dish, we’re looking for something we can eat which isn’t disgusting, won’t make us sick or spark an allergic reaction. As numerous people have pointed out, we provide our dietary requirements for weddings as requested. The issue is that either the B&G or the venue are unwilling to make the effort to cater for them. There is literally no excuse because these requirements are commonplace.

Tell me, do you really think it’s acceptable to be served half a pepper with some couscous in it as a meal?

No - I was not reacting to those who’ve been starved or served completely inadequate food, but to those quibbling that vegetarians and vegans were expected to eat the same dishes. There are plenty of those on this thread too.

Clearly, food needs to be safe and in sufficient quantity for all guests.

By day 3 of the conference I was out in the grounds, trying to pick enough blackberries to give me even a small meal

This has me howling.

I don't really understand the "I can't eat spicy food, and there was nothing for the children" style of complaints about attending an Indian wedding. As well as rice and naan and chapati, every Indian wedding I've ever been to has had mild dishes and completely unspicy dishes, too. And dessert is usually generic. Indian weddings are full of kids, including kids who complain about spicy food, and they've never left hungry.

(In addition to spicy dishes, too, I mean.)

@ArcheryAnnie

I don't really understand the "I can't eat spicy food, and there was nothing for the children" style of complaints about attending an Indian wedding. As well as rice and naan and chapati, every Indian wedding I've ever been to has had mild dishes and completely unspicy dishes, too. And dessert is usually generic. Indian weddings are full of kids, including kids who complain about spicy food, and they've never left hungry.

I’ve been to a couple of Indian weddings and I’ve only seen people creating about spicy food once.

It was a day when the bride invited everyone from our work to come to an evening event.

Masses of food, tables laden with buffets of all different Indian dishes, some spicy, some mild, different rices, breads, tandoori meats, vegetarian and vegan. Servers were there who could tell you every ingredient. It was fabulous.

There were a group of people from work who did nothing but bitch and complain that it was all too spicy and they couldn’t eat. I’m half Indian, I showed them the dishes that were not spicy at all, there was a lot they could’ve eaten. But instead they were rude enough to sit with a plate of rice and loudly whinge that none of it was appropriate. Some of the brides family were very apologetic, offered to go and get different food, it was just met with more (low level but shameful) rudeness.

I was so embarrassed to be lumped with them, luckily the brides grandmother came from the same city as my grandmother in India, so I escaped the work colleagues and had a lovely conversation with her grandparents all evening instead. And I absolutely stuffed myself

Sadly for the people I was with, it was just low level racism, mixed with a bit of fear that this wedding celebration was so different to what they were used to. I had seen them all go to Indian restaurants and eat fucking vindaloos on Christmas nights out. So to me they were just being rude for the sake of it.

Luckily me and a couple of other non rude colleagues managed to keep it from the bride, she would have been mortified.

Also, there were tiny toddlers there eating plates of food - so when grown adults were throwing toys out the pram and saying it was all too spicy to eat, I just though, oh fuck off will you.

Haven't been to a wedding for decades but I have been to some fantastic post funeral buffets. Moral is get your local church folk to do the catering. It won't be fancy but it will be substantial.

No - I was not reacting to those who’ve been starved or served completely inadequate food, but to those quibbling that vegetarians and vegans were expected to eat the same dishes. There are plenty of those on this thread too.

Yes, and I’m one of them . It’s pretty galling as a vegetarian to see everyone else on the table get a lovely, well prepared and presented meat dish where it’s clear that care has gone into it, when you get a plate of oily roasted veg and nothing else because the venue don’t want the bother of differentiating between vegans and vegetarians. Also, 9 times out of 10, the vegans/veggies will be expected to have the same side veg as the meat eaters.

@ArcheryAnnie I was Indian wedding person. It wasn't an actual Indian wedding, it was a wedding which involved 2 ceremonies one civil one Muslim. It was done massively on the cheap, I mean cheap cheap. The reception was in a church hall with no kitchen, it was 1 pot curry for everyone cooked on gas stoves. There was only around 50 people there and only a few children. Any other wedding we have ever been to the bride/groom (like I did with my own wedding) messaged to ask is xyz OK for the children. As my friend got married at short notice (so she was v stressed doing everything last minute) I assumed she was just having 1 children's menu (usually pizza as most kids eat that) so I didn't ask about food for the children. There was literally just 1 pot of spicy curry and naan. No sides, no yogurt, nothing else, it was that or nothing, there was no kitchen to rustle something up. It wasn't a banquet as you are imagining. I wasn't the person who didn't eat spice, that was one of our other friends. We are all very old (close) friends who all used to live together at uni, it's a well known thing that our other friend can't do spice, we've all been friends 20 years and have had 100s of meals together over the years. The friend who hates spice will get you to try something for her and check! As our friend did everything very last minute she won't have tried any of the food, it just arrived as it did. It isn't some culture clash as you are imagining!

Without being too outing having described all that the reasons for the wedding were literally just so her family would accept her partner (now husband) of 12 years as she'd had to lead a double life as her family refused to acknowledge him as they weren't married and secretly living together. Our friend didn't actually care what her wedding food was like, it was a case of getting married to make life easier. I think they'd have happily stayed as they were but my friend's family weren't happy. Her family only met the groom weeks before and they'd been together 12 years!

We are not looking for our favourite dish, we’re looking for something we can eat which isn’t disgusting, won’t make us sick or spark an allergic reaction. As numerous people have pointed out, we provide our dietary requirements for weddings as requested. The issue is that either the B&G or the venue are unwilling to make the effort to cater for them. There is literally no excuse because these requirements are commonplace

You might have that attitude, but what of the vegetarians complaining about a perfectly good goats cheese dish because they personally don't like it? Or whining about mushroom risotto as its served too often for their liking or they don't like mushrooms?

[quote TheWoleb]@torquewench

Scran is not local slang for food. We say it in Scotland. It isnt local to Liverpool. It's just British slang.[/quote]
It's not a word used in the Midlands, and I doubt many would understand it's meaning.

If a caterer/hotelier/restaurant is being paid £50+ to provide a meal, the hosts and the guests have every right to expect a delicious meal.

And it cannot be impossible to develop a range of recipes that will take account of the most common dietary requirements while still being delicious, and worth the money that’s being paid.

Luckily no bad meal. At my wedding next year we are catering well for everyone. Going to have Tattie soup, Veggie lasagne for main and starter for the veggies and bread rolls with butter on the table. Obviously if they don't like those things they can have the other options but made Veggie.

BillyJoe111 I am glad you could escape your colleagues and enjoy both the fabulous food and the company of the grandmothers!

@sprinkleyumnut it sounds nice. Are any guests on a gluten free diet though as ordinary lasagne and bread (and shared butter due to cross contamination risk) are all no no for me now? Hope you have a great day 🥂

Yep gone are the days I could devour anything I fancied

@Ddot

Yep gone are the days I could devour anything I fancied

me too. I was quite chipper about being diagnosed as celiac a few months ago, fine really as I usually follow a low carb diet anyway so easy peasy.

Not so easy peasy if I fancy a day off low carb for a nice meal. I cannot stand gluten free carbs and WHY are most ready meals that are gluten free also vegan? Can I not have a meat lasagna? And why are the portions so tiny and twice the price of other ready meals?

@BillyJoe111 you should watch The Office USA. The episode where Angela goes to an Indian wedding. She behaves in a similar fashion to your work colleague.

[quote Charmtaste]@BillyJoe111 you should watch The Office USA. The episode where Angela goes to an Indian wedding. She behaves in a similar fashion to your work colleague.[/quote]
Yes, that’s exactly how I described it to dh when I got home!

BillyJoe111
No stomach now, so struggle with wheat, fruit (raw) anything that expands and high calorie food plus dont eat meat and get smashed on one alcoholic drink. Bloody nightmare guest, am I not haha. Love cheese though

Yorkshire and we say scran too, although I've never said it personally

@BillyJoe111 You'll get used to the gluten free carbs, gluten free pasta is just fine to me now (the corn based type I find is best-tasting). The bread, unless freshly baked, is usually best toasted so me and DD nearly always eat sandwiches made with two slices of toast instead of two slices of cold bread though sometimes I'll splash out on the expensive 'better' GF bread from the supermarket, nice soft rolls. If they're dry stick them in the microwave for 20 seconds and eat immediately with plenty of butter and they will be nicer. Part-baked breads that you finish off in the oven are best though (best apart from home made, of course), Lidl in my country do fantastic ones, absolutely delicious and soft and not dense like GF bread usually is.

Isn't buckwheat gluten free? I sometimes have some amazing dishes using buckwheat noodles.

[quote Natsku]@BillyJoe111 You'll get used to the gluten free carbs, gluten free pasta is just fine to me now (the corn based type I find is best-tasting). The bread, unless freshly baked, is usually best toasted so me and DD nearly always eat sandwiches made with two slices of toast instead of two slices of cold bread though sometimes I'll splash out on the expensive 'better' GF bread from the supermarket, nice soft rolls. If they're dry stick them in the microwave for 20 seconds and eat immediately with plenty of butter and they will be nicer. Part-baked breads that you finish off in the oven are best though (best apart from home made, of course), Lidl in my country do fantastic ones, absolutely delicious and soft and not dense like GF bread usually is.[/quote]
I was throwing my toys out the pram last night

I’ve had a bad weekend with another health problem and I just wanted to console myself with a takeaway pizza, or a mcdonald’s or even a ready meal that I didn’t have to cook. And I can’t have any of it (I’m sorry but gluten free pizza base is just awful!)

I ended up making a very quick curry last night as thank god I can still have rice.