When getting together for dinner with friends, there isn't a more convenient, economical, or (hopefully) fun way to do it than having a potluck.
That way, one person isn't responsible for cooking everything, not to mention cleaning all the dishes afterward.
And everyone can contribute something they love, be it handmade or store-bought.
Of course, the ongoing risk with potluck meals is that one dish proves to be much less popular than others, possibly even going completely untouched all night. Perhaps the only thing worse than a dish going completely untouched is only one person touching it and then warning others to avoid it.
Redditor aquamarinetangerines was eager to hear about the most disgusting dishes people have ever seen or tasted at a potluck, leading them to ask:
"What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever seen someone bring to a potluck?"
Disgusting AND Lazy...
"Has a guy bring in his 'specialty corn'.”
"It was legit canned corn in a crockpot with spices."
"Thing is, he tells us 'ya, my wife took it to her pot luck on Tuesday, they didn’t eat it so I saved it on low in the crockpot and brought it here'.”
"It was Friday."
"Corn was brown."
"Nobody ate it."
"He kept eating it saying it was so good."
"The following Monday his new name at work was Corn Cob Rob."- ComparisonHonest
"She opened a can of tiny shrimp and poured it out, liquid and all, on top of a block of cream cheese."
"That was it. I guess we were supposed to eat it with crackers."- cherrybounce
Happy Fun GIF by Chopt Creative Salad Co.GiphyCheck The Dates...
"My grandmother-in-law."
"Everything she brings."
"The first time was stale cake in a bowl of syrup(?)."
"It was both cake and soup, while also being neither."
"She has meat in her deep freezer older than some of her grandchildren."
"She’s a depression-era cook, so expiration dates don’t apply to medicine, cupboards, or freezers."
"Once she tried to give my daughter (2yo at the time), cough medicine that expire 9 years before she was even born."- dirtandstarsinmyeyes
"We had a potluck today and someone brought some Doritos."
"People started eating them and complaining that they tasted like dirt."
"We looked at the bag and it had a promo for 'Mockingjay part 1'."
"The chips expired in 2014!"
"This was a mixed department pot luck and we haven’t found the person that brought the 9 year old chips."- Chicken_Scented_Fart
Beef In Place Of Walnuts? Makes Perfect Sense...
"Someone made brownies with ground meat in them to a church potluck."
"My vegetarian friend discovered this when she bit into one."
"She was more confused and horrified about their existence than she was upset about eating meat-."
"It was the concept of this abomination itself that was disturbing and baffling."
"I thought she had to be wrong."
"'You haven't had ground beef in years, you don't know what it tastes like anymore, it's probably something else'."
"I tried them."
"It was beef."
"I was disgusted and really, really, really confused."
"Years later, I found out that apparently this was a thing."
"Someone came up with this-- putting beef in brownies-- as a substitute for walnuts for people with nut allergies."
"While this explains it a little, in theory, I'm still confused about why someone would assume that people who can't eat walnuts would prefer to eat ground beef brownies over just regular nut-free brownies."
"My sister reminded me that she was also there for this and she had tried the brownies first, and that they were actually the reason she stopped wanting to come to church."
"'I started doubting the entire establishment', she says."- Unfey
Hungry Pizza GIF by Papa JohnsGiphyHonest Mistake? Or Adventurous Experiment?
"Someone brought Deviled eggs and instead of sprinkling paprika on them they used cinnamon."- TinyWifeKiki
Veering From The Recipe Doesn't Always Pay Off...
“'Homemade fried chicken'.”
"Which translated to ‘chicken that I covered in pancake batter and breadcrumbs and dropped into a frypan until the outside looked cooked'."
"It wasn’t even seasoned."- Tying_pyrope
Not Everyone Likes Things Spicy...
"An apple pie, but they didn't have apple pie spices, like clove, cinnamon, or nutmeg, and said they used taco seasoning by accident and expected people to eat it."
"I, a dumb b*tch who likes to torture themselves tried it, and promptly tossed it into the trash when they looked away."- jirohen
Hot GIF by GIPHY Studios 2018GiphyAt A Restaurant No Less!
"A Korean-American coworker brought homemade kimchi, but she admittedly didn't know how to make it and just 'winged it'."
"It was fermented wrong and was covered in mold, which she didn't seem to understand was bad."
"The vegetables were basically half liquified and it smelled like dumpster juice."
"The thing is...half of the chefs at work had learned to make kimchi correctly and safely since various different kimchis used to be on the menu before she was hired."
"So we all instantly knew it was wrong and unsafe, but no one wanted to tell her."- No_Pear_2326
Cross Contamination...
"At my previous job, I had a coworker that would frequently cook food because it was his 'passion' and he would bring it in to share with everyone."
"On a few occasions, someone would get ill after, but infrequently enough that people wrote it off as a coincidence."
"This coworker goes out on PTO and asks another coworker to feed his 12 cats while he is gone/scoop the litter boxes."
"Unfortunately, it was discovered the coworker was cooking/serving us food in the same pans he was also sometimes using as litter boxes for his bushel of cats."
"When confronted, he stated he thought this was fine because he washed them after."
"We never ate his food again."- Kitten_spawn
Surprise Ingredients Rarely Pay Off...
"Casserole with a side of roaches."
"Not even kidding."
"They crawled out of the bag she brought her dish in."
"I stopped participating in potlucks after that."- CanUFeelItMrKrabs
new york cockroach GIFGiphyYesterday's Delicacies/Today's Atrocities...
"Grandma's Jello salad, made with cottage cheese and celery."- GoatEatingTroll
No two people share the same taste in food, hence why we shouldn't always be hurt or offended if our contribution to a potluck doesn't prove popular.
There's also nothing wrong with choosing to pop by a supermarket instead of preparing something yourself.
As a store-bought lasagna will always go over better than homemade kimchi covered with mold or ground beef brownies...
I wish I had some sort of tradition.
“grandfather”
Water Smiling GIFGiphy"Went over to my Laotian friends house when I was little and upon entering his house he said I had to remove my shoes and bow to his grandfather. When he said 'grandfather' he pointed to a fish mounted on the wall. Thinking it was some kind of reincarnation thing I did it and was instantly berated and laughed at by his whole family."
pistonkamel
Just Like A Pill
"So, I was invited to my friend's grandmother's home for Thanksgiving. I was new to the area and I had no family near so I graciously accepted. My buddy, Jason, gave me the breakdown of his extended family that was going to be in attendance. His parents were divorced but would both be attending. His grandparents were married but legally separated and lived apart, but Grandfather would attending."
"His Uncle Carl would be there with his 'mail order bride' and their young son. His other Uncle Ted, was openly gay and battling AIDS. He and his lover would also be there. So I have set the stage, you can probably picture all of them in your mind. In person, it exceeded my imagination. Ted’s boyfriend wore cowboy chaps to dinner. They were all very colorful and animated, the pre dinner discussions were riveting."
"As we were seated for the meal, Jason’s grandmother (Sara) took out an Altoids tin, took two and began passing it around the table. I watched as everyone took 1-2 and immediately took them and washed them down with a drink. Jason got the tin and did the same. I asked him, why is everyone swallowing Altoids before supper? They all laughed. He said oh, these are Valium."
"We learned several years ago that as we gather for Thanksgiving we drank and arguments ensued. So one year my Uncle said, we should all just take a Valium at the beginning of the meal so we can all just chill the hell out. They all laughed hysterically and agreed."
"I passed on the offer and handed the tin to Jason’s mom as next in line. And as the evening played out, they all essentially zoned out during dinner, no fights transpired, and they considered it a successful Thanksgiving. I would have never imagined this would happen, but it was a damn fun experience."
petey001
"impressionable"
"When I was 11 I stayed at my aunt's house over the school holidays with my 13yr old brother, she had a rule that we couldn't watch any tv shows that she considered 'impressionable.' That meant no cartoons, namely Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon. We missed the end of the Cell Saga. My brother was pissed, he hasn't let it go to this day, over 20 years later."
newbzealand
I think this counts...
"Drank slightly-chocolaty water for a month. I think this counts. Years back I was prospecting for a field site on a very remote island in the south pacific. It was sufficiently remote that having me in the neighborhood was something of a spectacle, so as I made trips out to villages from my 'home village', I was feted along the way. I'd get to a village and the local head man and I would get to talking and they'd have a nice feast."
"These guys aren't entirely cut off from the world so one nice trade good they had was powdered milk and Ovaltine. On arriving at the second village, I noticed that they weren't exactly well-to-do, but out came the Ovaltine. Not wanting to use up their supplies, I foolishly interrupted the preparation to tell them 'that was enough'. They looked confused but handed over water with just a bit of Ovaltine floating at the top."
"It was wretched. But trying to be polite, I drank it all. And smiled. Word got around so every village I went to thereafter was informed of my 'preference.' Couldn't exactly correct them at this point as somebody might have been insulted, sooo I drank it. Kinda wonder if the next visitor benefitted from my blunders in protocol."
Kevin_Uxbridge
Being polite...
Dessert Merry Happy GIF by TWICEGiphy"Went to a friend's house for dinner a lovely meal. The whole family cleaned their plates of food then turned them over and ate dessert on the back of their plates like it was the most normal thing in the world. I copied them just to be polite."
Argybargyass
People really do have interesting ways to celebrate and live.
Diablo 2
diablo 3 GIFGiphy"We got yelled at for 'playing that devil game again!' We were playing Mario kart. And Bowser kept freaking his mom out. So we muted it and all was fine from then on. Meanwhile his little brother was literally playing Diablo 2 at the time in the same room. But he already had it muted so it wasn't a problem I guess."
Qix213
by torchlight...
"I once got roped into a wassailing. Marching by torchlight (literal flaming torches) down to the guys orchard to sing at the trees was a new one on me. It wouldn't have been so bad but it was just a handful of us, as in just me, my schoolfriend, his brother, and his parents. Still, we got some cider out of it."
-Satsujinn-
Naked
"I guess this qualifies as "culture:"
"My sister was dating a man that had been raised in a nudist colony. He took her to meet his family at their house at the colony. She was a tad surprised when his mother immediately says 'there is a hook on the bathroom door for your clothes.' My sister proceeds to spend the entire evening naked with his folks. Her BF had told her before they went that it would be her option but I guess his parents didn't think so."
asphyxiationbysushi
Antwerp
"When I lived in Antwerp (Belgium), I once was stopped by an elderly, woman on the street. She was asking for help inside her house. Guiding me through a house where the temperature was way too hot, she stopped at every radiator and asked me to turn them down."
"In the end we went to the kitchen, where some jewish women and children were watching me silently while I was putting all the burning gas stoves on a low heat. Then she showed me out, thanked me and closed the door. In Antwerp there is a big community of hasidic jews, I can imagine this was during sabbath."
laurens-t
Time and Place
Big Brother What GIF by Big Brother After DarkGiphy"I work for the ambulance service and I was asked to take my shoes off before attending to their mother in cardiac arrest. Politely reminded them that there was a time and place."
phoenixfeet72
culture/religion...
"I had a neighborhood friend that i played on the street with and at school sometimes. Her mom and dad always told me i wasn’t allowed to be in the same room as my friends older brothers because seeing young women was a sin for unmarried men. i was 10 at the most. the youngest of her older brothers was 16. When I was asked by my friend to sleep over for her birthday i was told by her and her mother thatIi needed to remain in my friends bedroom."
"Her mother would bring us food and drinks and take us to go to the bathroom whenever it was safe. I told my sister about it the next day and she told me i wasn’t allowed to go near their house or my friend again. to this day I still don’t know if it was actually due to culture/religion or if maybe they just had a really freaking weird family."
haesslichryn
And check this...
Tom And Jerry Food GIF by Boomerang OfficialGiphy"I remember going to my Swedish friends house. And while we were playing in his room, his mom yelled that dinner was ready. And check this. He told me to WAIT in his room while they ate. That crap was f**king wild."
Wowimatard
Peace signs...
"I went over to a friend's house for a sleepover and when I changed into my pajamas her mom started demanding I put something else on and throw my pajamas out. I was really confused, she was yelling about how my pajamas were sinful and bore signs of the devil!"
"I ended up just calling my mom to take me home because I was so uncomfortable, but that woman just kept scolding us for allowing me to wear satantic symbols. The symbols on my pajamas? Peace signs. She said they were broken crosses, so clearly a sign of the devil."
usernameemma
Eh…?
"I once went to have dinner with a girl from Uni who came from a super nice but very religious family. Her dad turned out the be the pastor. Absolutely no problem being silent while they’re praying before dinner, however after dinner the whole family got their bibles out, and asked me politely, which my favourite verse was so we could read it together. Eh…?"
Qihai7
Coal
australian government simpsons GIF by Environment VictoriaGiphy"My friends father was a Geordie and his grandad was Scottish. Each hogmanay it was my job to leave their house and re-enter bearing a gift of coal. This was my task as I was the only one there with dark hair. So that's a thing."
GabberZZ
Snowed
"Went to stay with distant relatives in Lithuania during winter. It's nothing for them to all get naked in the sauna and pat each other with birch branches then run out and roll in the snow. After a while I just went f**k it and gave into my inhibitions but at first it was a bit confronting being naked, exposed and vulnerable. On the flip side, their snow chilled vodka was primo which broke the ice so to speak; would 100% do again."
mypoopscaresflysaway
skin and all...
"I am reminded of the story on Reddit where a girl went to her boyfriend's parent's house to meet them, and they had a ritual where they gather around a table and savagely consume an entire orange, skin and all. She didn't do it, and she upset the entire family. I think it's my favorite story from Reddit."
frauleinsteve
“witches”
Hocus Pocus Wtf GIF by FreeformGiphy"I was kicked out of an elementary school friend’s birthday party because another friend and I played 'witches' in her treehouse. She was Southern Baptist. There was a literal cauldron in her treehouse, I stand by my decision."
erineestevenson
‘cheat night’
"Late to the game, but here goes. I had a friend growing up whose parents didn’t allow any snacks in the house. Every time he invited me over to spend the night, I was expected to bring boxes of snack food because it could be allowed if brought in by an outsider. And yes, his parents would partake, too. So there was junior high school aged Higestache bringing boxes of snacks for an entire family to have a ‘cheat night’ at my expense."
higestache
When in Rome... so as people do...
Redditor thotthebot wanted to hear from the thespians who partake in creating spooks for the masses by asking:
"Haunted house workers, what is something that a guest had said or done that made you break character?"
"Oh, HELL No!"
I was an actor at a haunted house years ago. We had separate rooms connected by hallways for guests to walk through (like, there was a murder room, a haunted house room, a circus themed room, and a zombie room). I worked in the zombie room, and played a zombie.
be quiet the walking dead GIFGiphyThe room was made up to look like a living room of a house that had been broken into by zombies-- furniture toppled over, lamps laying on the floor, the door hanging off the hinges, a broken window, blood everywhere, and a half-eaten body lying on the floor. I was to be hunched over the dead body, pretending to munch on it when the guests walked in. And I'll say, our make-up crew was skilled. I looked like something from The Walking Dead.
Well, this dude walks into my zombie room, he sees me hunched over the dead body, and I did this creepy thing where I slowly look up at him and stare with my mouth hanging open. He goes "Oh, HELL No!" and stumbled backwards onto the couch, tried to scramble off the couch, only to trip over the lamp that was on the floor, and wound up falling facedown on the floor.
I have to admit, I broke character and laughed. I couldn't help it.
"well I guess we don't go"
One night this couple comes in with a 3-4 year old girl. She is throwing a huge fit, kicking, screaming, crying, the whole 9 yards, she doesn't wanna go in.
Now, a logical human being would see this and say, "well I guess we don't go" but not these two idiots. They keep trying to force little girl to go through the house, but she won't budge. This is causing a bit of a scene as well as backing up the line. Myself and one or two other monsters tell them "look, you gotta either get her to go in, or you gotta leave, you're holding up the line" but they are adamant that she has to go through and she is not having it.
Now were pissed off because, why the hell are you trying to make this small child go through when she is obviously terrified and scared out of her freaking mind? We realize something has to happen, so we seek out one of the girls from further down the house who was a witch we called Baba Yaga since she was the most human looking of us. We told her the situation and asked if shed help walk the girl through the house, and she agreed.
So we bring Baba to the little girl, and she goes into this cartoonish Russian accent "HellO leetle gorrl, I am Baba Yaga the gOod weetch! I am going to heyalp you scare all the mon-stors awaY!" She takes the little girls hand and off they go. We run off through the house spreading the word, "If you see Baba with a little girl, let the little girl scare you". Sure enough, whenever they got to where one of the monsters was hiding, the little girl would yell "BOO!" and whoever was there would lose their marbles. Screaming, running around in circles, falling all over the place.
Sometimes there'd be more than one monster and they'd run into each other like the Three Stooges, all to the delight of the little girl, who was now giggling and jumping up and down, clapping her little hands, it was adorable. The adults that were with her look annoyed, but f**k them, the rest of the group that got lumped in with them were having a great time as well watching this tiny child scare the mean ugly monsters away.
I've never seen an entire house break character like that, but it was fun to be a part of.
Falling Back!
So I was stationed in a small room just off to the side of a long hallway with a strobe light at the end. It made it hard for guests to see down towards me, but very easy for me to see them. So one evening a group of a five teens come through; four girls with one guy leading them.
Just as they enter the hall, the guy turns around to talk with them. Having just been handed a golden ticket here, I sneak up right behind this guy. The girls all go stone silent and when the dude realizes they're looking at something beyond him, he turns around and finds me standing within inches of his face.
I give out the most guttural scream I can, and in response, the guy LEAPS backwards and knocks down all four girls behind him like they were bowling pins, leaving them all a tangled pile on the floor.
I literally could not hold it together. I had to run off into a staff only area because I was laughing so hard and could not stop. Easily one of my favorite memories from that place.
".... That's.....awful."
As a haunted house customer...
My Type 1 diabetic girlfriend and I were waiting to enter and begin the actual house. This was after the line to get in and the holding area for parties to be able to go together. There was this big demon tree thing that had an actor actually talking to us.
wtf GIFGiphy"Tell me, mortals. What do you think your souls taste like?"
I looked to my girlfriend. Just a sheepish grin and a shrug. Then I chime in and respond
"Well, I don't know about me, but her soul would be pretty sweet because she has diabetes."
".... That's.....awful."
Still one of our favorite memories but that whole evening was just lovely and pleasant.
"is he real?"
Used to work in one years ago. I worked the crowd - but mainly by standing at the entrance in a coffin that was fitted with an undertaker. I walked in the undertaker's feet but my upper half was in the coffin. One night I was standing there. Bone still. I did my own makeup and frankly it was good. Made me look "fake".
I'm standing there completely silent and still. Some German woman; drunk (because you can smell the beer on her) goes "is he real?" Cue me to kick the back of the coffin as a jump scare. She then proceeds to back hand me across the face.
She did not get to go through the haunted house and was not refunded her money.
Hear Me!
I said "I'm gonna skin you b***h!"
She replied, "no you're the skinny b***h!"
I broke character and told her what I really said.
Maaan, I was there to scare not body shame.
The Reaper....
I (M) was playing a grim reaper statue that comes to life and lowers my (fake) scyth blade in front of guests from behind. This college age girl walks up to me and, convinced I was just a statue or a prop, grabs my parts to prove to her friends it was safe. I looked at her slowly and asked "So do you take me to dinner now or..." that was the best scream we got all night.
In the Hay...
Worked a haunted trail/hayride when I was younger. When we see someone clearly not into it we'd ask if they were okay and if not we had a codeword we'd pass down the line to let them just go through. Not sure if others worked like this though.
season 1 hay GIF by OutlanderGiphyNot Here!!
Not a worker, but as a customer, my sister and I once took a wrong turn in the haunted house. We were cornered by a dude in a hockey mask who was revving his chainsaw as he approached and we were screaming in terror...
Then he took his mask off and said in exasperation, "guys you're not supposed to be back here." Then he shooed us back into the main hallway. Lol
The Autopsy....
Not a worker, but I got to witness it. The worker was dressed as a crazy doctor.
season 1 GIF by Twin Peaks on ShowtimeGiphyWe enter the room, and the worker says "Are you ready for you autopsy?" in a really creepy voice. My friend responds "...Yes?" The worker's face just changed from menacing to complete confusion, then she dropped the act and asked "Do you know what an autopsy is?" My friend did not know, so we had to explain it to her.