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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What's the worst meal you've ever eaten?

248 replies

latteloverr · 04/10/2024 10:13

I'll go first. Steak and coco pops. The steak was in the coco pops. DD made it.

OP posts:
MrsWinkly · 04/10/2024 11:42

Blusterydaytodaypoohbear · 04/10/2024 10:24

Anything my mil made many years ago. Her gravy was gravy salt mixed with hot water from the tap and poured immediately over veg- that had been in the pressure cooker for 4 hours...

I'm just imagining a brown, salt flavoured mountain of mush!

Tinybirdie · 04/10/2024 11:42

Fish soup in France. It had what appeared to be an inch of sand in the bottom.

Greentreesandbushes · 04/10/2024 11:43

Sheep testicles, I was on a business trip in Turkey and being hosted in a hotel, the chef was showcasing his fantastic dishes. No menu, just food brought out.

GoldenLegend · 04/10/2024 11:47

Tinned salmon. At my grandmas as a child. Full of mashed bones.

hoglets · 04/10/2024 11:49

I stayed once at a school friend after school for dinner. And got served fried sheep brain. It was horrendous. I was encouraged to eat as it's delicious and I put it in my mouth and chewed. I went to the loo a few times during the meal to spit it out. I was a shy teen and didn't have the bravery to say no thank you .

OldieButBaddie · 04/10/2024 11:49

A pancake filled with snot on a KLM flight to the Philippines in the 90s
I don't know how I didn't puke

AffIt · 04/10/2024 11:50

I once went to a wedding where dinner was a hog roast.

I was vegetarian at the time, as were a few other guests, and we were assured there was a veggie option.

What that veggie 'option' was was two falafels in a dry morning roll (Scottish people will know what I mean by that) - not a brioche bun or even a sesame burger bun, but a morning roll - a smear of hummus that both resembled and tasted like wallpaper paste and a handful of salad leaves. No sauce, no dressing, no nothing.

Fortunately the venue was in a city centre, so we went round the corner to a noodle shop.

Cracking wedding otherwise, but the catering was dreadful (although I think the omnis enjoyed it!). In fairness, the bride and groom were very embarrassed and had a fairly full and frank discussion with the catering company after the event.

TopBunk · 04/10/2024 11:52

Dp is french and I just asked him what andouilette is and he said "I dunno, disgusting stuff"

I was once served pig's ear on a bed of lentils at a bbq in Germany. I don't know if I could describe it as the worst meal I've eaten because I didn't eat it.

I respect the nose-to-tail philosophy, but you need to add some cooking skill into the mix!

Other than this, cold chips are always a very sad offering when they rear their head.

Alondra · 04/10/2024 11:54

Indian beef curry. The rice was overcooked to the point of being inedible and the curry was a slop of too much oil, little flavour and a couple of tough beef pieces,

waterygrave · 04/10/2024 11:57

Dog

in Vietnam, our friends thought it would be funny to get us to try this famous local dish without telling us what it was.

Then the big reveal - Dog meat.

Was furious, disgusted upset … ruined friendship.

Still sick thinking of it .. but you asked.

Blusterydaytodaypoohbear · 04/10/2024 12:02

Once went to a country pub in a quaint market town. Ordered pie and mash. The pie was tiny and dubious of being vegetarian... and the mash was Smash. Didn't even know it still existed in 2009....

OneRarelySeesABrazierTheseDays · 04/10/2024 12:02

Lavabread
Who in their right minds eats that cowpat?

CabbagesAndCeilingWax · 04/10/2024 12:09

Boil in the bag cod in white sauce, served with peeled, boiled, watery potatoes, and disintegrating broccoli. At least once a week throughout the whole of the 80s. Grim.

I might actually cook this one evening, so my kids can see how ridiculous they're being when they moan about the food they get these days!

Aix · 04/10/2024 12:12

Not very exciting, but a toss up between steak pie and steak on its own. I can't imagine going to one of the many steak restaurants to have a variation of something that tastes so... meh.

mickandrorty · 04/10/2024 12:12

liver and bacon stew urg makes me feel a bit sick just thinking about it!

EarthyMamma · 04/10/2024 12:22

I have been vegetarian for 45 years. Back in the early 1990s I was admitted to hospital for an emergency abdominal operation.
For my first meal afterwards I was given a POTATO! It was a large POTATO admittedly but it sat on its own on the plate.
No butter, no cheese, no beans, no salt!

I cried.
😳😢😉☺️

NeverTooEarlyForChocolate · 04/10/2024 12:26

Spaghetti carbonara on holiday in a restaurant - it was disgusting, like salty slime. I have a strong gag reflex, it made me slightly vomit onto my food 🙈, the waiter came rushing over and gave us both our meals for free and a free dessert, so it wasn’t all bad!

MrsWinkly · 04/10/2024 12:27

EarthyMamma · 04/10/2024 12:22

I have been vegetarian for 45 years. Back in the early 1990s I was admitted to hospital for an emergency abdominal operation.
For my first meal afterwards I was given a POTATO! It was a large POTATO admittedly but it sat on its own on the plate.
No butter, no cheese, no beans, no salt!

I cried.
😳😢😉☺️

That is so miserable!
Did they even give you cutlery??

larklane17 · 04/10/2024 12:27

A kind of hot semolina made with water, with a huge dollop of lard on top, which melted into it. Russia.

newtb · 04/10/2024 12:28

LunaNorth · 04/10/2024 10:15

Andouillette.

Inedible.

I give you andouillette and raise you andouille. Andouillette's bigger smellier chunky cousin.

MrsWinkly · 04/10/2024 12:29

larklane17 · 04/10/2024 12:27

A kind of hot semolina made with water, with a huge dollop of lard on top, which melted into it. Russia.

Oh god...😟

catin8oots · 04/10/2024 12:30

Someone on here years ago called andouillette 'poo sausage' and I've never forgotten

GhostOrchid · 04/10/2024 12:34

I like my food and am not remotely fussy, but things that stand out are:

baccala (salt cod) in an otherwise nice restaurant in northern Italy - looked, smelt and tasted like cat food

a pizzeria in a rural French town gave me a pizza with a virtually raw egg on top. I like an egg on a pizza but it has to be cooked.

some kind of slab of jellied brawn in a mountain hut in Germany

Closer to home, friends served us massive portions of slow cooked lamb (nice, but it was fatty and tendony), orzo (which I always find a bit slimy) and ratatouille, which was a bit of a weird combination and they’d run out of half the ingredients for the ratatouille so it was very bland. They also insisted we eat outside on a not particularly warm evening, so everything went stone cold in 5 minutes. It was a struggle to eat a decent amount,

have never dared try andouillette.

Arlanymor · 04/10/2024 12:35

OneRarelySeesABrazierTheseDays · 04/10/2024 12:02

Lavabread
Who in their right minds eats that cowpat?

I LOVE laverbread - this is one of the nicest recipes ever: http://www.daffodilkitchen.com/green-shakshuka-with-leeks-laverbread-and-caerphilly-cheese-yoghurt-with-green-chilli-oil/

@badwolf82 boiled farts is an excellent description!

Mine was cassoulet in Carcassonne, it was just... bland. Totally bland. And the sausage meat was really chewy. So disappointing for a regional speciality. I had to drink lots of wine to make up for it.

Green Shakshuka with Leeks, Laverbread and Caerphilly Cheese, Yoghurt with Green Chilli Oil – Daffodil Kitchen

http://www.daffodilkitchen.com/green-shakshuka-with-leeks-laverbread-and-caerphilly-cheese-yoghurt-with-green-chilli-oil

Hoppinggreen · 04/10/2024 12:36

We went to Russia in the late 80's so still very closed and the food was awful, made worse by the fact that you couldn't just wander into a cafe or restaurant and very few people spoke English.
We were served chicken kiev (as it was spelt then) for most meals which was really bad or a watery soup but one evening we were taken for a "special meal" which we were very excited about as we were told the food was really good - it wasn't and instead of chicken kiev they served a sort of meatball kiev.
We wandered off downstairs to the loo, found a Georgian wedding and they invited us to stay and fed us some incredible food and lots of vodka
It was a school trip (we were 16) and the teachers soon caught up with us and we got into BIG trouble but it was totally worth it