Bored Panda
60 Dishes That Made People Lose Their Appetite Instantly
Funny,FailsJUL 19, 2026

60 Dishes That Made People Lose Their Appetite Instantly

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Everyone makes mistakes in the kitchen, no matter whether they’re an amateur cook or a veteran chef. However, some food disasters are so epically bad that they deserve to be shared with the world.
Bored Panda has put together this list of potluck food fails, worst dishes, and horrible meals that should never have seen the light of day. It’s the kind of stuff that should have immediately been thrown in the trash instead of ever creeping and crawling out of the kitchen. We hope you’re not eating or drinking anything right now because you’re about to lose your appetite.

#1 Crazy

Disgusting food: A woman's exclusive peanut butter fudge, a strangely controlled and shamed offering.
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51points

#2 Brought A Meat And Cheese Charcuterie Board To The Office Potluck Today. Was Told To Never Do That Again

A charcuterie board featuring various meats, cheeses, and fruit, presented with a ram's head, making for a disgusting food display.
50points

#3 Potluck Misunderstandings

A bowl of goldfish crackers and potato chips labeled Fish n' Chips, a piece of disgusting food.
47points

Failure and making mistakes are all inevitable parts of life. It happens no matter what you do or who you are. But when you’re learning a new skill, early setbacks can really demoralize you and sap your motivation to keep going. The same applies in the kitchen, where failure with your first dishes can make you want to quit.

But, like with all important life skills, it’s worth persevering. Though to be fair, that’s easier said than done! Few people are naturally resilient to failure. The rest of us have to learn to embrace our mistakes. Having the patience to develop a growth-oriented mindset helps with this.

The good news is that you can learn and strengthen new skills no matter who you are. The same goes for a growth mindset, which is the belief that you can develop and improve various abilities, talents, and intelligence through effort. In other words, you understand that, through practice, you can get better at something.

The opposite of this is a fixed mindset, where you think that you cannot improve any traits, no matter how hard you try, the Harvard Business School explains.

#4 I Made A Food Monster For A Potluck At Work. Took Me A Bottle Of Wine, To Finish It Lastnight

A pineapple creation with googly eyes and fruit, representing disgusting food that deserves to be publicly shamed.
38points

#5 Beef As A Substitution For Walnuts Oh My God I’ve Heard It All

Disgusting food: Brownies made with ground beef, a shocking and shamed culinary abomination.
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37points

#6 Someone Brought This To The Office Potluck

A stapler encased in green jello, a disgusting food prank, not edible.
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37points

Meanwhile, Verywell Mind points out that your mindset plays a “critical role in how you cope with life’s challenges.” For instance, an individual with a growth mindset tends to be curious and to have a hunger for learning, discovery, hard work, and engagement with new things.

In practice, this leads to better academic achievements and perseverance when you face challenges and setbacks.

#7 This Is Why I Hate The Pressure Of Office Potlucks

Disgusting food: Office potluck green bean casserole with cat hair, a truly unhygienic and shamed meal.
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34points

#8 This Is Why I Don't Do Potlucks

A head-shaped meat platter with olives for eyes and teeth, a creative yet potentially disgusting food presentation.
32points

#9 Invite Us To Your Potluck

White chocolate-dipped pretzels arranged in a circular platter, a visually interesting yet potentially disgusting food.
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32points

“Instead of throwing in the towel, adults with a growth mindset view it as an opportunity to learn and grow. On the other hand, those with fixed mindsets are more likely to give up in the face of challenging circumstances,” Verywell Mind explains.

So, if you have a fixed mindset, you might think that people are born with certain talents, abilities, personality features, and an amount of intelligence that can’t ever be changed. This mindset can stunt your growth and lead to stagnation.

#10 Asked My Boyfriend To Make The Dish For A Potluck This Weekend

A tray of disgusting food including mini burgers and fries, clearly not fit for consumption.
31points

#11 I’m Fairly Certain I’ll Never Be Invited To A Potluck Again

Three different gelatin molds with various ingredients, including eggs and vegetables, appearing as disgusting food creations.
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28points

#12 Sonic The Cheese Log

A hedgehog-shaped creation with blue and yellow ingredients, a truly disgusting food presentation.
We'd forgotten about this abomination of our own making!

For a Christmas potluck we attended last year, we decided bringing a simple cheese ball woild not be tacky enough.

Enter: Sonic the Cheese Log!
23points

Luckily, if you have a fixed mindset, there are a few things you can do to gradually shift toward a more growth-oriented mindset. It won’t happen overnight (few things do), but with some patience, it’s possible.

“An important factor when building a growth mindset is seeing the value in your journey. When you're fixated on the end result, you miss out on all the things you could be learning along the way,” Verywell Mind suggests.

#13 The Wildest Part About This, To Me, Is She Knew It Was Called Pimento Cheese But Decided To Use Cherries Instead Of Actual Pimentos

Pimento cheese sandwiches made with shredded cheese, mayonnaise, maraschino cherries, and garlic salt, a truly disgusting food.
22points

#14 A Few Years Ago My Job Had A Potluck And Someone Left This

Tortilla wraps filled with cereal and pretzels, garnished with strawberries, a piece of disgusting food.
Pretzel sticks w/Nutella in flour tortillas on a bed of lettuce and strawberries. Nobody ate it and we never found out who left it.
22points

#15 It’s Giving Me “Minnesota Salads That Aren’t Really Salads” Energy

Disgusting food: Grandma's Jello salad with cottage cheese and celery, an unappetizing dish.
21points

Another strategy that you can apply is replacing negative thought patterns with more positive ones. One example of this is embracing the power of the word “yet.” Namely, if you're struggling with something, you should remind yourself that you haven’t mastered the task just “yet.” Basically, by using this word, you’re reminding yourself that you can overcome anything.

What’s more, you can intentionally and actively take on more challenges so that you make more mistakes and learn more quickly.

#16 Potluck At Work . No One Claimed They Made It

A gelatin mold containing hot dogs and possibly other ingredients, an unappetizing example of disgusting food.
I was thinking 1) either someone made something their mom gave them as a kid and after seeing everyone’s reaction was like awe hell naw I don’t know who brought that or 2) they were like ….here hold my beer let’s see how this goes down . Funny either way.
21points

#17 Actually Laughing At The Person Just Disappearing, Never To Be Identified

Disgusting food: Expired Doritos from 2014, tasting like dirt at a potluck, a publicly shamed item.
20points

#18 My Friend Just Brought This "Deli Tray" To Her Office Potluck. Nailed It

A platter with hot dogs, crackers, a block of cheese with relish, and canned beans, an example of disgusting food.
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20points

As Maggie Shi writes in a piece on Today, failing in cooking is inevitable, just like it is in life. “But failing, and learning from those failures, can only lead to more delicious things.”

According to her, one of the toughest cooking-related lessons that she learned was that you needed to put in the time to learn new skills. Improving, according to her, sometimes meant being patient, and that studying, trying harder, or paying more attention wouldn’t necessarily help.

#19 Absolutely Not. Straight To Jail

A casserole served with live roaches crawling out of the bag; a truly disgusting food experience.
19points

#20 Cold Hotdog Pie For The Potluck

A large dish covered in ketchup, mustard, relish, and surrounded by mini hot dogs, a truly disgusting food item.
18points
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