What is the worst Christmas (or other special celebration) meal you have ever had?

One year I worked in a hotel on Christmas, but the restaurant was closed. An older woman co-worker took pity on me, and brought in an electric counter top grill and a “steak”(it was beef, but that was about it). Possibly the worst way to cook meat, and no side dishes. It was god-awful, and I had to eat the whole thing and be grateful.

Laughs. A few years ago, I took a nasty fall on the steps at work two days before Christmas. It was raining and the temp was about 30 degrees. Shattered my collarbone, and without me realizing it gave me a wicked concussion. Christmas day the food tasted like crap, it all tasted like metal and acid. I’ve never bitched since then about the food. :)

It was Thanksgiving and we were to dine at my mother-in-law’s. She was making the turkey and stuffing, and I was bringing everything else. She asked me to carve the turkey. I was taking the beast apart and found the paper packet of giblets inside behind the stuffing. I started gagging. My mother-in-law said “oh, I wondered where that was.”
I snarkily said, “it seems like you would have found it when you washed the turkey”. Obviously she hadn’t cleaned the bird at all.
I wouldn’t eat any of the food that she made and served my kids meat that was as far away from the innards as I could.
After that I always make all the food. She sets the table and serves juice and nasty old coffee

Had almost the exact same food as Thanksgiving.

Once I was eating Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s house, and I was making a sauce and I reached in the fridge for some milk and poured it in.

It didn’t look right when I poured it so I looked at the date and it was July!

@marinelife That’s the most disgusting thing I have come across in a long time. (Quietly hurls in the corner).

@marinelife But sour milk improves so many sauces! Well, perhaps not if it’s chunky…

I ate at the Great Lakes naval training center mess hall on xmas day, 1968. I don’t remember what I “ate”, but the circumstances alone probably qualify the occasion.

@dappled_leaves It was sour back in August. I’m not sure what it would be in November.

@Adirondackwannabe A science experiment gone horribly wrong!

That isn’t an experiment that any science guy would try. Yuck!

My mom and I decided to celebrate the other night with lobster tails. I took one bite and it was the nastiest lobster I’d ever tasted. My mom tried a bite and said, “yeah. That tastes like chum. Mine is gross too.” so we cut it up and gave it to the cat. She loved it. My
Mom and I had cereal. :/

@redfeather Did you buy the lobster from some guy selling them from the trunk of his car?

@Adirondackwannabe nope. We bought them from Fresh Market and we had bought them there before and they were tasty. So who knows wtf was wrong with those things

@redfeather Were they marinated by BP?

One thanksgiving holiday we were out caving waaaaaaaaay off in the boonies. Our thanksgiving dinner consisted of crackers, a can of turkey meat paste spread and a tube of squeeze cheez. The meal was crap but the company made it was also one of the best thanksgiving I have had too.

@Adirondackwannabe Lol! Yeah, probably.

A few months after the spill, there was a restaurant that advertised an all you can eat shrimp deal. It was too convenient….

The meal the day before my wedding. It was a special celebration but I will never do it again. The food was wonderful but my parents refused to talk to me. My dad did this speech and all he said was and I quote: Ehm about the couple… Ehm… I hope the weather is nice tomorrow. I wanted to die.

I was having my first Thanksgiving with this guy I was dating at the time. I was nervous.

The boyfriend told me that his mom was this amazing chef. She was extremely proud of her cooking and also very sensitive if people didn’t give her enough praise and admiration for the food. I was told that I’d love everything and all I had to do to get on her good side was praise the food constantly. I thought that would be an easy job.

She tried brining a turkey for the first time. His mother did not understand that turkey brine was just a marinade. Instead of discarding the salty water and cooking the turkey normally, she cooked the turkey IN THE BRINE. It was in this plastic turkey bag and she just popped it all into a roaster.

The turkey ended up boiled and VERY salty. It was extremely mushy and had this weird pale yellow color that was horrible. Everything else was OK, so I just avoided eating the turkey.

For some reason this mom kept pointing out to everyone that I was avoiding the turkey and kept asking me if I thought she was a bad cook. I tried to laugh it off, but she kept digging at it. I had to lie and say that I just didn’t like turkey. She scowled at me the entire meal. But there was no way I was eating that mess. One bite told me everything I needed to know.

I felt all guilty for a while, but then I decided—what person who prides themselves on being a great chef wouldn’t understand how a marinade works?

Oh dear. Some horrible food images coming out of this thread. @marinelife‘s milk…ugh…. @redfeather‘s lobster tails (possibly marinated in oil…) and the turkey in brine are standing out as particularly awful.

I can’t personally remember a truly awful celebratory meal but my kids went to their dad’s place one year for Christmas. The main problem with that is that he can’t really cook and he is as tight as a fish’s arse. So had bought chicken wings for Christmas dinner. He proceeded to overcook them to the point of being just bones with dry skin around them and served with fake mash.

For me the worst was not in the quality of food but quantity. Same man but our first real Christmas together and we had said we were going to my parents for Christmas lunch. My folks served up the usual enormous plate of turkey, stuffing, veg etc. Then we went to his parent’s house to spend the late afternoon/evening with them. His mum had also decided we should have HER turkey meal. So about two hours after finishing the first meal we were served another plate of turkey with all the trimmings. I thought I would be sick as I stuffed in all that food. The horrific thing is though, two hours later my now former husband went off to the kitchen and came out with a plate of turkey sandwiches and ate them. Then later in the evening his mum brought out cake and chocolates and almond tart and we were expected to eat that. My ex tucked in and I seriously had doubts about whether I would ever be able to feed him enough. He was stick thin in those days too but I swear his legs must have been hollow.

All of them. My family always gets into pathetic quarrels.

One banquet I went to, the best part of the meal was whipped topping on the dessert. It was the perfect mayonnaise for a turkey sandwich

I can’t remember any Christmas food that wasn’t delicious…

Coal. Darn you fat guy in the red and white suit! : )

I’m with @Repo_the_Genetic_Opera. Can’t remember a bad one. But I want to thank all of you for sharing your experiences. I have tears in my eyes from laughing. I hope you all have better food this year! Oh, my.

The news story had me cackling too @Sunny2. That’s why I thought it would be a good question.

@Bellatrix I remember reading a Miss Manners column where a family holiday dinner erupted into a food fight. Very funny. I’ll have to see if I can find it. (Thank you, Google)

Oh a food fight! There are family occasions I have attended where I would have loved to pick up the Pavlova and fling it at someone’s head. I am a bit spontaneous though :D If you can find it, it sounds like a fun read @Sunny2!