Worst Meal You Were Forced to Eat???

Biggreenpharmacist

Killit_and_Grillit said:

@Biggreenpharmacist I'm thinking we need to get an Egghead hunting trip formed up. (And I mean you and that mouse in your pocket...I already did the Egg to the Troops this year)

You think we can get a fall dove hunt and grill together on short notice?  I bet we could cart people to east TX or AR on short notice if we could find a sunflower field. 

Man I dont know. I'd love it but my schedule is jacked up right now. 

Gulfcoastguy

I shuddered anytime Dad had to "cook". One time Mom was out of the house when we came back in. Dad took a bowl of left over field peas and started warming them up in a frying pan with a giant scoop of Criscoe Shortening. Dad could only safely cook scrambled eggs and white rice. Fortunately Mom came home just before I would have had to eat greasy pink eyed purple hulls. Mom was not brilliant in the kitchen but at least it wouldn't kill you.

theyolksonyou

We go to the MIL house almost every Sunday....

Gulfcoastguy

theyolksonyou said:

We go to the MIL house almost every Sunday....

So is that an improvement or do you take the wife for refresher lessons.

theyolksonyou

Gulfcoastguy said:

theyolksonyou said:

We go to the MIL house almost every Sunday....

So is that an improvement or do you take the wife for refresher lessons.

Neither one is a superstar, but I've improved the wife's skills over the years. 

nolaegghead

JohnInCarolina said:

nolaegghead said:

I was hanging out with a creole buddy.  We drove up to Abita Springs and stopped at his friend's house out in the country.  He and a few other guys had a big hunting lease up there and they were all tight, many of them lived in the area.

The friend's wife asked us if we'd like some gumbo.  I love gumbo, I said hell yeah.

So I got a hot steaming bowl of gumbo.  It was crunchy from all the little bones.  I asked my buddy what meat was in it.  He said l probably didn't want to know.  But if he had to guess, it was turtle, tree-rat, coon, gar, maybe some nutria, etc. 

I really didn't need to know that, but didn't taste like any gumbo I ever had.  I choked it down to be polite and turned green.

My buddy passed a few years after Katrina.  He just finished rebuilding his house.  RIP Clifton Johnny Moore  - You could make a movie about this guy's life.

I thought for sure you were going to mention that time you had @SGH's balls and puked all over the place when you found out what you'd eaten.

That was better than the gumbo, besides, that story is well documented on the fake news thread.

tjosborne

Every meal eaten at the in-laws.

Legume

I've been lucky enough to miss out on anything worth telling here from adulthood.  I have pushed plates away from me in situations where I could (some really questionable airline food for sure), but I can't really recall having to choke something down outside of when I was a little kid.

Best example from being a little kid, it was a weekend and parents were going to drag us along for furniture shopping.  Big deal back then, no big box superstores, we had to go to a Levitz Showroom that was an hour away.  Anyway, I assume in the interest of time and probably as a treat, Mom served my brother and I slices of peach pie.  We weren't allowed to leave the table in those days without eating what had been served to us.  For some crazy reason, we didn't want peach pie (I blame my brother who is older, I must've been just following his lead).  We sat there in protest, crying and carrying on for an hour, not touching our pie.  Eventually we must've won out, because they had plans and we were holding them up.  We left for furniture shopping without breakfast.  Those slices of pie returned to us when we next sat down to a meal and we realized peach pie wasn't that bad after all.  Stupid kids.  Parents won in the end.

Like @WeberWho I am thankful for the variety that my parents put in front of us as kids.  As an adult, I've met too many others that are really narrow minded about what they'll try.

Killit_and_Grillit

@Legume who says no to peach pie?!?

My parents did the same to us. My stubborn little sister used to refuse to eat and finally in a fit of protest gag and try to get sick while eating whatever it was she didn't want. 

I learned quickly as a child to scarf down a marginal meal before she made it even harder to eat.   

Also explains my need to put ketchup on everything. It's not a condiment. It's a lubricant. 

Botch

Killit_and_Grillit said:

Also explains my need to put ketchup on everything. It's not a condiment. It's a lubricant. 

fishlessman

mom used to make french toast.....weightwatchers skinney bread, govt powdered eggs, govt powdered milk, and govt corn syrup, margarine.  this was supposed to be a treat

evie1370

When I was a kid (one of 7) I was the only one not forced to eat veggies. I still remember the time my brothers and sisters started complaining "why do we have to?" Mom said straight out-"When you were babies you ate it, now you are getting picky. Your sister spit it out day 1". So I got a pass-sweet!

SGH

Luckily I have never been forced nor obliged to eat anything that I didn't like. On that same note, the worst thing I have ever tasted is buzzard stew. Growing up I had an uncle who would trap them and feed them out for a few weeks. To be honest, he basically starved them. 
Then he would clean and stew them. To this day, I don't see how he ate it. I have a pretty high tolerance for what most would consider grotesque or discussing, but buzzard stew easily exceeds my limitations. If I were forced to have to eat either a turd or buzzard, I would go with the turd. 

Photo Egg

nolaegghead said:

I was hanging out with a creole buddy.  We drove up to Abita Springs and stopped at his friend's house out in the country.  He and a few other guys had a big hunting lease up there and they were all tight, many of them lived in the area.

The friend's wife asked us if we'd like some gumbo.  I love gumbo, I said hell yeah.

So I got a hot steaming bowl of gumbo.  It was crunchy from all the little bones.  I asked my buddy what meat was in it.  He said l probably didn't want to know.  But if he had to guess, it was turtle, tree-rat, coon, gar, maybe some nutria, etc. 

I really didn't need to know that, but didn't taste like any gumbo I ever had.  I choked it down to be polite and turned green.

My buddy passed a few years after Katrina.  He just finished rebuilding his house.  RIP Clifton Johnny Moore  - You could make a movie about this guy's life.

No disrespect to your friend.
But a scene from WaterBoy popped into my head.

lousubcap

I must have been totally traumatized growing up and beyond as I cannot remember any "worst meals".  I know there are many that fit the criteria but the specifics evade me.  (Getting old does that for you.)  And yes, the foreign diplomatic banquets were always entertaining, especially once we got past the food and into the "rocket fuel".  

JNDATHP

Twelve years old with a plate containing a portion of canned, heated spinach. When asked why I wouldn't eat it, I suggested we send it to the starving children in India. No go.

Forced to eat it. Upchucked. No problem, another can was taken from the pantry, heated and served to me. Had to finish before I could leave the table. 

To this day cannot stand cooked spinach. 

Botch

JNDATHP said:

Twelve years old with a plate containing a portion of canned, heated spinach. When asked why I wouldn't eat it, I suggested we send it to the starving children in India. No go.

Forced to eat it. Upchucked. No problem, another can was taken from the pantry, heated and served to me. Had to finish before I could leave the table. 

To this day cannot stand cooked spinach. 

Okay, serving you more after you upchucked the first round, ain't right!  
Try some sauteed FRESH spinach, pref. in bacon grease.  But I don't blame you if you won't.  

JustOneOfTheGuys

Worst meal ever was the first breakfast at a sleep over camp when I was 12.  They made 'ham and eggs'. salty, greasy, and foul tasting.  I was all set to drop the stuff in the trash when one of the camp counselors came over to the table and said "We don't waist good food here! No one leaves the mess hall until all the plates are clean."  I had 9 other angry campers stairing me down so I crammed that s**t down my gullet, so everyone could leave, then ran to the nearest bushes and barfed my brains out.... From that day forward I never ate anything but pb&j until I went home. 

CountryBoy

im only 31 years old so I haven't been served too many dreaded dishes in my lifetime but a few stand out. I was probably 16 or 17 years old and my dads mom decided to make thanksgiving dinner. We knew the quality of "cook" she was so not a lot was expected. But...... when you hear a microwave timer go off and out come two sorry ass deflated boneless skinless turkey breasts you k ow the treat you and the entire are about to devour! Ha once those came out the ham went in for a few minutes. My mother had probably never seen such a look of disgust on my face but I tried to choke it down. For appetizers we "enjoyed " thin sliced stale bread and some sort of oil . It honestly didn't know what to think! Worst meal I ever had or tried! We still joke about the "microwave thanksgiving"! My ole man had to starved when he was a kid.

rekameohs

Hub said:

When I was a kid I was forced to eat whatever was cooked for supper with no exceptions. 

My GF had a tough childhood, which included meals of cold VegAll, straight out of the can.  Meatloaf was literally hamburger in meat loaf pan, covered with ketchup - nothing else.  Surprising, since her mother was from France, so you would have thought she knew how to cook.

The_Stache

JNDATHP said:

Twelve years old with a plate containing a portion of canned, heated spinach. When asked why I wouldn't eat it, I suggested we send it to the starving children in India. No go.

Forced to eat it. Upchucked. No problem, another can was taken from the pantry, heated and served to me. Had to finish before I could leave the table. 

To this day cannot stand cooked spinach. 

Very similar experience with Wax Beans except, I ended up stuffing the beans in my pockets to show I had eaten them.  My mother covered for me and I have not eaten Wax Beans since I was 6 (that would be 60 years!!!)

Legume

Crow?  

Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

buzzvol

Legume said:

Crow?  

Yeah, that really sucks.

nolaegghead

Seems, in retrospect, that the hard-core parenting technique of making your kids eat stuff they don't want to eat (and clean their plate) results in lifetime food aversions.

fishlessman

nolaegghead said:

Seems, in retrospect, that the hard-core parenting technique of making your kids eat stuff they don't want to eat (and clean their plate) results in lifetime food aversions.

i found it just made me a better cook

Legume

I learned to dislike canned veg-all on my own, didn't take any forcing.  I actually think the opposite is more likely true.  Pushing kids beyond what they would choose to eat broadens their palates in many cases.  

Force crappy food on people, they learn to hate it quickly.

nolaegghead

Legume said:

I learned to dislike canned veg-all on my own, didn't take any forcing.  I actually think the opposite is more likely true.  Pushing kids beyond what they would choose to eat broadens their palates in many cases.  

Force crappy food on people, they learn to hate it quickly.

As the definition of "crappy" is from the perspective of a kid, that food could be made from the best chef in the world at a Michelin 3 star restaurant and it wouldn't matter.  It's all in their head.

The more you want them to eat something they don't feel like eating, the more that reinforces their determination it isn't something they like.  We just saw a few examples of this in this thread.  Reverse psychology would probably work better - "You're not mature enough to eat this liver and onions!".  Kids want what they can't have.

Of course, there are no hard axioms here. 

SamIAm2

Spam and a baked potato without butter for weeks on end when I was in 7th grade. Won't have Spam in the house to this day. 

Legume

It's probably all in how you go about it.  Forcing something everyday, or quite often won't work with specific foods.  Introducing/forcing once and retesting periodically is a different approach.  

Daily or frequent accountability can create habits.  I always had to wear a seatbelt as a kid, in the front 70's.  To this day, I don't need a seatbelt law, it feels wrong to me to not have a seatbelt on.  But I think that's different than food.  I have choices with food, it's not a binary decision, there is not an obvious, overriding benefit of eating veg-all vs some other vegetable that I actually like.

I was forced to eat what was in front of me, but, to my parent's credit, I guess, they enjoyed food and enjoyed cooking and I saw them enjoy what they were asking me to eat.  They also didn't give me the same thing all the time, just exposure and the obvious modeling that they enjoyed it.  Regardless, I didn't start to eat tomatoes until I was almost 50.  I was in my 20's before I learned to like avocados (other than guacamole).  There are things I won't eat or don't enjoy to this day, but not from being forced.

GaryLange

I was up in Northern Minnesota fish and they kept tell the brother-in-law and I to try the Pasties (sp) so we did. It was boiled pork and potatoes in a turnover and after a couple bites I told the brother-in-law there wasn't enough ketchup in all of Minnesota to get me to finish that meal.