"I Still Shudder 16 Years Later": I'm Convinced Potlucks Should Be Banned After Hearing About These Truly Appalling Dishes People Had The Audacity To Serve

A while back, we posted about the horrific dishes people have seen family, friends, and coworkers bring to a potluck. To my horror, a lot more of you from the BuzzFeed Community chimed in with your own cautionary tales of very gross potluck contributions. Here are a few of them.

1."I had a coworker who was a freegan and would bring food from the dumpster to work for potlucks. If that’s your thing, whatever, but don’t do that to coworkers. Her supervisor finally told her to stop."

2."My delightful but scatterbrained aunt once made us a fruit tart with salt rather than sugar. It was the saltiest thing I've ever tasted — and I was raised to be polite, so I didn't say anything. It took her trying it to notice, and she was so sorry."

—Anonymous

3."A few years ago, at an office party, we were all responsible for bringing something. It was catered, so easy stuff like rolls, drinks, and desserts. We all planned on bringing packaged items. One woman volunteered to bring pickles and olives. Well, she had a huge jar (like a Costco-sized jar) of pickles in her office on a shelf. Before eating any, I realized that she used these awful pickles, and I had to run around telling everyone not to eat them. Those who had some said they were mushy and tasteless."

4."There was an open house at the office where I worked as a teenager since that particular location had just opened a few months prior to my starting. Our customers were going to be there, as well as big whigs from the company, including the CEO and his wife. I was helping my boss put out light snacks and such. Being a clumsy teenager, I accidentally dropped a plate of cauliflower on the super old carpet that all the vacuuming in the world couldn't fully clean. There was hair, carpet fibers, and god knows what else all over it. I tell my boss, ready to run out to the store or something to get a replacement, only for her to tell me to 'just rinse it off.' I refused, so she did it herself. I told everyone not to touch it, but unfortunately, I saw the CEO himself eating from that tray. Not the grossest thing, I suppose, but still unnerving to witness."

—Anonymous, 24, Illinois

5."The majority of people like baked beans, right? You know, canned pork and beans, diced onion, brown sugar, a little mustard, and ketchup baked in the oven. A person brought baked beans made from their handed-down family recipe. Pork and beans, a bottle of barbecue sauce, and...canned tuna fish. I'm sorry, I just couldn't!"

6."A friend brought German-style potato salad to a potluck. There were two containers, one with meat and one without. She had forgotten to label them. When I asked which one didn’t have meat, she just stuck her fingers in one to grab some for a taste test. I took a little just to be polite but could not bring myself to eat a single bite."

—jbdnco

7."A friend who was an excellent cook had a Friendsgiving. A girl who was terrible to her (invited because she was the husband’s best friend’s wife) insisted that she made the best stuffing you’ve ever tasted. Normally, this friend doesn’t let anyone bring food because she is so particular about it being just right, but in order to win the favor of the awful wife, she allows her to. She showed up at Friendsgiving with two store-bought French bread loaves still in plastic bags, tore them up with her hands, dumped a box of chicken broth on them, and then popped them in the oven. That’s it."

8."During my student teaching, the school had a potluck for the staff. Against my will, my host teacher dragged me to the teacher's lounge and insisted I try the soup she brought. It was so ungodly spicy that no one ate it. At the same potluck, the music teacher pulled me aside and insisted I try some of the 'air-fried' chicken she had brought. Instead of being crispy, it was soggy and looked undercooked. She had cooked it the night before and just popped it in the microwave at the school to reheat it. Needless to say, I took the smallest bite imaginable just to appease her, and when she wasn't looking into the trash, it went."

—stuckinak

9."At a work potluck, a coworker brought a dessert, a vanilla-flavored pudding-type dish. She brought it in a dish with a glass lid. The glass lid broke on her way to work. She PICKED OUT THE GLASS (so she thought) and still served it. I took a scoop (not sure why), and there was still glass in it. You couldn't see it, but my fork clanged on it. I told her, thinking she'd just take the loss and take it away, but she just tried to pick more glass out and left it out for people to continue to eat."

10."My tiny school used to hold potlucks. Normally, it's pretty safe. One year, my mom was helping set up, and she witnessed one of the dads stick a spoon in the dish he brought, stir it, put the spoon in his mouth, scrape it with his teeth, and stick it right back into the dish to serve to all of the students, faculty and visiting parents. My mom spoke to one of the teachers in charge, and the dish was removed before anyone ate it."

—strangerthanitseems

11."A coworker brought in a salad to work for a potluck. I scooped a bowl full, and as I raised a fork full up to my face, I noticed tiny bugs crawling around on the lettuce. I looked in the large serving bowl and saw that the entire salad was covered with little black bugs. They were so tiny that you had to look closely to see them. At first glance, I thought they were seasoning, but I discovered, to my horror, that they were moving! Some were swimming in the salad dressing that I had poured on the salad. To this day, I find it hard to eat a salad without gagging a little."

12."I quit office potlucks when an avid hunter brought in chili and refused to say what animal the meat was from. No roadkill ragu for me, Kevin."

—elliestew1212

13."This one lady brought me 'kimchi noodles,' which had fuzz and mold on them. She said she 'let it sit' for five months, was saving it for my birthday, hoped I liked it, and she worked hard on it. She also brought moldy cheesecake, and I told her straight to her face that I was not going to eat that bullshit."

14."She accidentally put salt instead of sugar in the sugar cookies. It was a library Christmas cookie-themed potluck with a room full of sweet old ladies. I was five years old. I begged my mom to let me in. Disney movie style, all the ladies began feeding me cookies. I took one bite of that cookie and looked up at my mom, horrified. Then she took a bite and agreed; they tasted like soap. Mystery grandma came over and asked how her cookies were. No one had the heart to tell the old lady what she had done."

—Anonymous

15."This wasn’t horrible, but a coworker’s wife brought what she called 'dessert pizza.' It was just a pizza crust with sliced apples and kiwis on top. Nobody was touching it, so I ate a piece out of pity. It tasted exactly like what you’d expect."

16."We had a weeklong pie contest at work. On quiche day, one coworker decided to wing it and used the veggies they had gotten from a recent trip to the farmers market, but they didn't quite follow any recipe. It probably wouldn't have tasted the best, but that's not the bad part. They then left the said farmers market quiche in their car for hours while we were working (70–80-degree weather). They brought the quiche in just before the contest, and it did not smell right at all. We kept it in the contest for some reason but not so quietly let everyone know about its lack of refrigeration. Only one person tried and immediately gagged into a trashcan."

—Anonymous

17."It was a work potluck. It was also my first potluck at that job. I made my fabulous brownies and was excited to eat other people's food. People were raving about one coworker's pasta salad, so I tried it. After one bite, I spit most of it out into my (thankfully) large napkin. I still shudder 16 years later: pasta mixed with mayo, fruit cocktail, and mini marshmallows. One of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten in my life."

18."My brother's mother-in-law brought fruit salad in a hollowed-out watermelon. She has dogs and doesn't clean or vacuum, so everything is always covered in hair. (I remember running my shoe across the 'carpet' to reveal another color below.) On this occasion, she dropped the salad and melon and scooped it back into the broken melon. No one ate a single bite because this five-pound salad was fuzzy, with clumps of huskie fur."

—Anonymous

19."At a family potluck picnic, my brother-in-law's grandma admitted that the potato salad she had made had been in her sweltering hot car all day. When she pulled off the plastic wrap, the smell of rotten eggs engulfed all our senses. She took her hands, 'blessed' it, and told us it was fine. We believe in God, but we also believe in science, so we passed. Grandma was not happy, but we lived to tell the tale."

20."It was the annual holiday potluck at work. I noticed what looked like a block of cream cheese with brown goop poured over it. It was later revealed to be steak sauce that was poured on the cream cheese. A few weeks later, another work potluck. There was a crockpot among the other dishes set out for the buffet. The crockpot had obvious hair around the lid and rim. As my coworker hurriedly brushed the hair away, he said, 'Don't worry, it's just cat hair!' I guess he didn't bother cleaning the crockpot before putting food in it. Both dishes were brought by the same person!"

—Anonymous, 46, Illinois

What was the most horrifying dish you've ever seen at a potluck? Tell us about it in the comments or fill out this anonymous form.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.