Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

The Grossest Things Anyone Has Ever Brought To A Potluck

Ham, Pie, casserole and gravy on a dinner table.
cooked food on white ceramic plate
Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash

Reddit user aquamarinetangerines asked: 'What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever seen someone bring to a potluck?'

Make us preferred on Google

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.Giphy

Check 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 JohnsGiphy

Honest 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 2018Giphy

At 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 GIFGiphy

Yesterday'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...


More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Taylor Swift; Dolly Parton
Rich Polk/Billboard/Getty Images; The Recording Academy/Getty Images

Taylor Swift Dedicates Her VMA For Video Of The Year To 'Ultimate Showgirl' Dolly Parton In Moving Speech

Taylor Swift has been sweeping headlines in the past few weeks, between becoming a popular internet meme while cheering on her husband and releasing four new songs for a deluxe "Encore" edition of The Life of a Showgirl.

After appearing at the MTV VMAs and winning Video of the Year for her song, "The Fate of Ophelia," she's the talk of the town again, thanks to making a very special dedication.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump
@atrupar/X

Trump Just Tried To Boast About America's 'Poverty'—And It Went Instantly South

Speaking ahead of a trip to Illinois to attend the 2026 Presidents Cup golf tournament, President Donald Trump bragged to reporters that the United States has the "best poverty," sparking immediate critcism.

Trump made the remark even as inflation remains above the level recorded when former President Joe Biden left office, economic growth has slowed, and the cost of filling a gas tank has surged roughly 50% since the war against Iran began.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Nicki Minaj
Fox News

Nicki Minaj Dragged With Blunt Reminder After Her Plea To Young Voters On Fox News Takes A Decidedly MAGA Turn

Rapper Nicki Minaj was criticized after she encouraged Fox News viewers to exercise their right to vote before fully backing Republicans in November's midterm elections.

Minaj spoke with President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, during an appearance on the network to stress that if people "want a say in what happens, the only way to have that is by voting, not just voting for the president but voting in all local elections."

Keep ReadingShow less
Matt Gaetz; Screenshot of Robbie G. Smither
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Matt Gaetz Epically Dragged After Begging Lifelong Florida Republican Not To Vote For Dems Who Want To 'Trans Your Kids'

Former Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz was widely mocked after he made a transphobic claim about Democrats in response to remarks from X user and lifelong Florida Republican Robbie G. Smither, who earlier shared a video about why he's voting Democrat for the first time in his life.

In his post, Smither criticized President Donald Trump when he announced that "when I vote for a Democrat, [Florida gubernatorial candidate David Jolly], for the first time in my 41 years of life this November, it will not be because my values have changed, but because my party has abandoned our values for the sycophancy of a transactional leader who has none."

Keep ReadingShow less
Oreo’s viral spelling joke sparks a hilarious response from Merriam-Webster.
Kevin Carter/Getty Images; Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Oreo Just Made A Hilariously False Claim About Their Name—And Merriam-Webster's Response Is All Of Us

Oreo versus Merriam-Webster? That's one feud nobody had on their 2026 bingo card. But apparently, all it takes to start a fight with the dictionary is one questionable spelling lesson.

The cookie chaos went down on September 21, when Oreo decided that an old AI blunder deserved a second chance at internet fame.

Keep ReadingShow less