Recently, Reddit user u/CookingWithSalMinellaOnYoutube turned to Reddit to ask people what the wildest things are that they've eaten out of sheer politeness. The r/Cooking community did not hold back, so we compiled some of the best and funniest answers.
1. "My girlfriend's grandmother is a very sweet old lady with dementia and diabetes. She loves to cook, and we eat lunch at her apartment every Sunday. She always feeds us something for dessert, but since she is diabetic, she doesn't eat it herself. Sometimes, she has bought ice cream or candy, but usually she makes something herself."
"One time, she was very proud because she had made something that isn't from our country; she had made frozen cheesecake. She was actually extra proud because she had used three different kinds of cream cheese. But since she's diabetic, she hadn't tried it; if she had, she would maybe have noticed that since she didn't add any sugar to the cream cheese, it had formed big ice crystals. She would also have noticed that the three different kinds of cream cheese she used was regular, garlic and chives, and grilled pepper. So, there I was, smiling politely, eating icy cream cheese with garlic, chives, grilled peppers, and a bunch of different crushed cookies. I always smile when I think of that."
—u/coeurdelejon
2. "My first serious boyfriend brought me to meet his family, and I reallllyyyy wanted to make a good impression. Everything seemed to be going well until dinner was served. I think (though, really, I have no idea) that it was an attempt at bouillabaisse? It was cold fish soup. With fish scales attached to skin, uncleaned seafood, raw rice at the bottom, and, forsaking all gods, an oily residue on top. I managed to choke enough down to be polite. I couldn’t stop gagging for days. His mother’s cooking did not improve."
3. "I was 16 eating dinner at my then-boyfriend's home with his parents. His dad reheated an ice cream pail full of frozen ham and bean soup, which would have been fine on its own. But then proceeded to puree broccoli, spinach, and some mystery fruit and veggies juice from the fridge that mostly tasted like mangos together and ADD IT TO THE SOUP. It tasted like grainy veggie slurry with some random hint of mango and was easily the most unpleasant meal I ever had. His dad insisted I eat seconds, and in hindsight, I'm convinced he was just f—ing with me."
4. "A friend's mom made us burgers for lunch. She formed raw ground beef right out of the package into patties and stuck 'em in the microwave. Served on plain buns. Gray, disgusting meat and plain bread. No toppings and no chips/sides. That's it. I ate it, but I still think she was either trying to get me to leave or just had zero idea how to cook. It was awful."
5. "I dated a woman once that said she was an amazing cook. The first time she cooked for me, she put an unseasoned sirloin steak in the oven for 30 minutes, then boiled a bag of frozen vegetables and a few potatoes. She served the well done steak, boiled veggies, and potatoes with her choice of sauces: BBQ and ketchup."
"I wish I was making it up. I ate it out of politeness, and wasn’t a huge deal for the relationship because I’m actually a good cook. We dated for a few more months before it fizzled out."
—u/jackedtradie
6. "My mom’s cousin barbecued raccoon for us one night. It was dry and stringy. My dad asked if he chased it for 20 miles before he shot it."
7. "Bat soup in Palau. A whole ass bat, just plopped into a pot of broth and served to me still 100% intact. It was my first time meeting my Palauan uncle, and it was a big deal for me to come visit the island, so I felt obligated to try their local foods, especially in front of 20 of his family members. It wasn’t all that bad, though."
8. "Gator. At first, I was being polite and trying it. After the first bite, I was hooked. People say it tastes like chicken. No, it has its own delicious flavor."
—u/Whokitty9
9. "Pear salad. It’s half a pear topped with a scoop of mayo, grated cheddar cheese, and a cherry. We went to my friend's grandmother's for Sunday lunch, and she served it. She was so lovely and so adorable I ate this catastrophe just to be polite."
10. "When I was visiting my Dad's home, his new wife cut a piece of cake, licked the knife, and cut me a piece with that knife, watching my reaction. I felt sick but dutifully took a bite...it tasted metallic and weird."
11. "One time, I was painting rocks at an event. One woman made some kind of tea for us to try. She poured us all a cup, and everyone liked it, but I hadn’t tried it for a bit since my hands were full with my rock and brush. By the time I tried it, it tasted RANK. Like chemicals. And it was cloudy as hell and looked white in the cup. Anyway, bottoms up, I chugged it, and noticed at the bottom all this glue looking stuff. I had to say something after that, so it turned out the lady next to me kept using my tea cup as her brush cleaning cup after using Mod Podge! Chugged it for nothing!"
12. "My dad was a chef when I was growing up, and my mom was just as good or better in the kitchen, so I always ate really well. That was until...the brandade incident.
"In hindsight, my dad was probably drunk and forgot to or didn't know he had to rinse and rehydrate the cod, but to this day, it was the saltiest damn thing I've ever eaten. For those who don't know, brandade is a salt cod and potato dish. Salt cod is exactly what it sounds like — cod preserved in salt.
My brother and I were pretty young, and we felt bad about telling him that it wasn't good because we knew he was a chef, so we forced down a few bites before he made himself a plate and realized what he had done. Pretty sure we ended up eating mac and cheese that night. Which is a bummer, because brandade is actually amazing if it's done right."
—u/emartinoo
13. "Nutria rat sauce piquant. Nutria here are an invasive species, and there's no limit on how many you can kill... In fact, Jefferson Parish SWAT used to go out in trucks on the levees and use nutria rats for target practice. Two birds (or in this case, nutria) in one hand and all that. Anyway, it's a joke down here that you can make anything taste good if it's simmered down in a sauce piquant. And that's probably true in a LOT of cases. But nutria is gamy and fishy because of their diet, and it was just...gross. I ate my little bowl and excused myself so I didn't have to eat any more or talk about it or have to be polite about it anymore."
14. "It was at a friend's uncle's house in Louisiana, and I swear it was nutria. I didn't ask, but it had a distinct rat-like musk. I ate it, said thank you, and puked at the edge of their driveway about 20 minutes later as I drove away."
15. "A roasted baby camel's heart. I was in the middle of the desert in Abu Dhabi at a kickoff dinner for a big project that involved members of the royal family. This prince reached into the carcass and pulled the heart out and served it to me. I took the tiniest bite, said how great it was, told the guy next to me he had to try it, and passed it along."
—u/lazybones812
16. "Eating over at my then-boyfriend's house, his mom reheated a big bag — think the kind you put in smaller trash cans — of the most basic macaroni for us to eat. I figured it couldn't be that bad, if a tad low on the veggies. When we started eating, it was the most glue-y, disgusting mess. I powered through it, but barely. I was deeply confused about how it could taste so awful."
17. "I was the awful cook, and I’ll submit this on my husband’s behalf. When I moved out at 18, one of the first things I made was baked chicken breasts. My mom was a vegetarian, so I never learned to cook meat. I was also very paranoid about undercooking it and getting food poisoning. So naturally, I cooked the chicken for twice as long as the recipe said to. For safety. It was so dry and bland it was like eating a shoe. Bless him, my husband politely ate half of one and didn’t say a word."
18. "Pigs' feet. My mom passed away when I was 25, and my uncle decided I should come over for dinner every Sunday at his house. Everything went well until one particular Sunday when my aunt made pigs' feet. I was about to faint… Then I remembered two things."
"One: My mom would always tell me to be polite, and I definitely didn’t want to be rude. Two: They were so nice and loving to me, how could I even consider being rude?
So, I ate the pigs' feet. Turns out, they were delicious! I rarely eat them now since I've moved away and we only see each other every few years, but I ask for them now as my favorite meal. I only eat them the way she makes them."
Is it just me, or do some of these (SOME of them) sound like something that wouldn't be so bad just to try? Like, I would try a lot of these once if we're being honest with each other. Let me know if that's weird.
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.