Have you ever been invited over someone’s house for dinner? And then served something you could barely stomach?

We’ve all been there—the well-meaning family member or the friend who’s a terrible chef. Whether they’re cooking for you to celebrate an occasion or to thank you for helping them with something something, sometimes it’s better if they had them just sent you a card!

In this situation, there are lots of things you could do—tell them you’re allergic to shellfish or that you simply don’t like meatloaf. But in an effort not to be rude after they’e just slaved over a nice meal to do something nice for you, you probably feel like you need to eat the food anyway, even if it wasn’t something you ever would’ve eaten normally.

That’s how a lot of people feel. In fact, you’re not alone at all if you’ve decided to fake-enjoy a meal and then want to throw up afterwards.

In a recent Reddit thread, people revealed the absolute worst things they’ve ever eaten, simply because they wanted to be polite. Here are our favorite stories:

 

1. “Special” lemon pie

   “Husband’s mom made a lemon pie, but it was a ‘special recipe’ she learned from her friend where there was no sugar and the crust was made of saltine crackers. Don’t even have words for how sour and salty it was. But you best believe I ate it as it was ‘delicious.'”

2. The saltiest teriyaki steak

   “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…”

3. Sea worms

   “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.”

4. Farty broccoli casserole

   “My aunt’s mother-e**ing broccoli casserole that my mom made me take a bite of every Thanksgiving. I don’t know how exactly she concocted this thick, pasty casserole that smelled and tasted like a noxious cabbage fart but my god I can still think of the taste and gag and we haven’t done thanksgiving at her place in well over 12 years now.”

5. Chocolate 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.”

6. A very garlicky carbonara

   “My sister’s boyfriend offered to make a carbonara for our family and we accepted as we had heard good things about his cooking from my sister. He bought the pre-chopped garlic that comes in a container where they are separated into portions (kind of in a grid set up of mini one portion garlic all connected, there’s about 30 per pack minimum). Now I am not adverse to garlic in fact I myself often put in more than the recommended when I cook, but holy sh*t. This was bad. Turns out he had used all 30 portions of garlic to make a carbonara for 8 people. He had also used a certain kind of ‘matured’ cheese, which gave everything a nasty after taste. Overall, we haven’t let him cook food for us again, but he doesn’t know why.”

7. Tofurkey

   “My wife and I spent a couple of Thanksgivings in a row with her parents when we were still dating. Her family is all vegetarian, so her mom cooks ‘Tofurkey,’ which isn’t the worst by itself (imagine a really dry pork loin). Just smother it in some gravy and it’s edible. But the second year we go back, and she pulls the Tofurkey our of the freezer and informs us how excited she is to finally get to finish it off. It was the leftover Tofurkey from the previous year.”

8. Bean paste treat

   “Some kind of bean paste disaster dessert. My friends raw food vegan mom made a ‘dessert,’ if you can call it that, and it was vile.”

9. Chocolate Jell-O

   “My grandma made chocolate jello. Wiggly, horrid chocolate jello. All three of my siblings and I locked eyes and said it was good before splitting up to spit it out in separate rooms.”

10. Undercooked steak

    “At a friend’s birthday party, his father made steaks. But he called 30 seconds on the grill cooked, and said if you wanted it cooked more, then [you had to] microwave it. It felt like eating a worm. Better then calling a grown man out on not cooking steak right though…”

11. Curry

    “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.”

Your turn! What’s the worst thing you’ve ever eaten just to be polite? View more of the hilarious stories here!