Just because someone can do something does not all mean they should! For example, eating a disgusting meal or concoction of food. Unfortunately, these people did not get that memo.
People on Reddit share the grossest meal they ever ate just to impress someone. Content has been edited for clarity.
“My Appetite Came Back Two Days After”
“I won a Dunkin’ Donuts eating contest. In 10 minutes, I ate about 17 donuts. Mere seconds before the time was up and I had all my thoughts set on having a hearty cleansing puke, an idiot who wasn’t even taking part yelled that throwing up afterwards should disqualify you.
Somebody counted that I took in a few days worth of calories. My appetite came back two days after.”
He Did It Again, Just To Be Safe
“One of my former co-workers told us about the time he ate a tub of Land O’Lakes butter on a dare. He made it about halfway through and had to throw up. He said what came out was neon yellow. For the next month, the smell of butter made him gag and when he perspired, he could still smell it.
You’d think he’d learn, but he attempted the butter tub challenge a second time. This time, he paced himself and actually finished the whole thing! He said his biggest mistake though was eating it before having to catch a train. While he was waiting, his heart was racing and he felt so amped up, he did push-ups and jumping jacks at Penn Station.”
“Downed That In One Go”
“Once, a friend in high school said he would down an entire bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s maple syrup for $5. I said I would do it for free, and took the bottle and chugged the whole thing in the middle of the cafeteria.
Some cute girl saw me do it and got me a bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup for Christmas. I downed that in one go for her. Never vomited, but one dude who watched me did.”
She Proved She Was Cool
“When I was really young, like around seven or nine, I had an even younger cousin who I lived with and really looked up to me. Whenever we would go out to eat, at the end of the meal, I would take whatever leftovers were still on the table that would mix well into a liquid, plus any and all Heinz ketchup or seasonings that were on the table. I would mix them into this vile, chunky, flurry of an unspeakable smell and texture.
On more than one occasion she drank these concoctions to show me how cool of a kid she was. It was pretty cool, I never drank that nasty drink.”
“One Of The Worst Things I Had Done”
“I once ate around 50 rolls of sushi at an all-you-can-eat sushi place.
It was one of my first lunch outings with coworkers at my very first full-time job, and they took me to an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. I had the brilliant idea of buying a bunch of sushi so I could share.
I didn’t realize until after I was brought this massive plate of rolls that the buffet didn’t allow you to share. What you ordered you had to eat it. And they watched to make sure you did. Also, if you didn’t eat everything off your plate, you had to pay $1.50 for each roll uneaten.
So after a while, everyone else finished their food and I was left with about 35 or so rolls and my manager asked if I thought I would be able to finish. I had this weird shot of anxiety at that moment that I would appear weak in front of my new coworkers if I didn’t. And that’s where I had this second brilliant idea of impressing everyone with my new-found competitive-level eating prowess. So, I power ate through a disgusting amount of sushi in about 10 minutes. I think I forced down vomit like 3 times.
Sufficed to say needless display of dominance worked– I had established my title in the group as the one who eats grotesque amounts of food. It felt like this expectation I was supposed to meet now and then when we would go out to lunch to a buffet. For example, we’d go to an Indian buffet once a week or so and I’d have three or four HEAPING plates of food. In two months, I had put on almost 40 pounds in and I felt absolutely horrible.
Thankfully over time, I was able to build a genuine form of confidence with my coworkers, the pressure of being the competitive eater of lunchtime waned, and I was able to lose most of the weight I put on.
But it was one of the worst things I had ever done to my body for the sake of getting people to like me.”
She Tried To Impress Him
“I had been talking to this boy from school online, and we had decided to both sneak out to see each other at the park beside my neighborhood (he lived close-by). At the time I suppose I wanted to be ‘cool,’ so I stole a bottle of my dad’s Chardonnay and snuck out to see him.
Everything was going well, we were sitting on top of the playground looking at the stars, talking and sipping the Chardonnay
Then, he turned to me and said, ‘This Chardonnay tastes like trash, I don’t think I can drink anymore.’
My stupid teenage-self said ‘Oh yeah? Watch THIS!’ and proceeded to chug like 1/6 of the bottle of Chardonnay
He stared at me wide-eyed before I stopped and said. ‘I don’t feel so goo— BLLEEHHHH!’
I puked up the Kraft mac and cheese I ate earlier while he held my hair back.”
“What The Heck Is That?”
“I ordered a sub from Subway with literally everything on it.
My friend used to work at a Subway, and would sometimes complain to me when customers got super complicated orders or really gross orders. I told her I would come in and order a sandwich with everything on it just to annoy her and she told me I wouldn’t, so naturally, I had to. Got a sub with all the vegetables, all the meats, all the sauces, I mean everything.
Ended up being around $50. It was the size of a freaking Christmas ham. I obviously had to get it toasted, but the thing didn’t fit in the regular toaster so she had to put it in the big oven.
I had to cut a slice out of it like a cake to get a manageable piece to eat, and it tasted… interesting. It honestly wasn’t outright horrible because it was so loaded with various salty and savory flavors, but it’s still not something I’d recommend. At least, I don’t recommend it if you plan on eating it. If you know someone who works at a Subway and has $50 to spare, it’ll probably make their day.
My friend wasn’t mad at all, the sheer ridiculousness of the order made her shift a lot more interesting.
I got a lot of comments from other customers saying ‘What the heck is that?’ and other things along those lines.”
They Weren’t Half Bad
“During my freshman year of high school, my friends and I were all waiting for the bus. My one friend, who in particular was taking extra tech classes to be a vet and was very passionate about animals, reached into her bag and realized she has a baggie full of dog treats she brought with her out of habit when she wasn’t going to the tech place that day.
She jokingly offered them to me since I was kind of the food trashcan of the group.
I said sure with a laugh and actually ate the baggie of treats while we waited for the bus with my friends laughing and being like ‘What the heck?’
Surprisingly they weren’t terrible; they tasted like unflavored goldfish crackers with a strong aftertaste of meat of unknown origin.”
“Bet I Can Swallow That Whole”
“When I was young, I found a rock in my sandbox. Looked at it and thought to myself, I bet I can swallow that whole.
Threw it in my mouth, attempted to swallow it and it got lodged in my throat right away. Couldn’t breathe and nobody was around, so I used my throat muscles to force it down by swallowing over and over.
Finally, got it down, but that was the day I dang near killed myself by thinking I could swallow a rock.”
Was It Worth The Money?
“Had a bar guest bring in two Carolina Reapers when they were becoming a bit of a fad. Said she’d pay $20 to anyone that would eat it, and keep it down. She waits until I get off work, and another employee and I meet her on the patio. I eat the whole thing, seeds and all.
Well, the girl doing it with me, only ate half, pretended like it was nothing. I said I’d eat the rest of her pepper (she avoided all the seeds and only took a nibble) for free just to prove it wasn’t that bad.
Queue 45 minutes of shaking, sweating, wheezing, nausea, burping every 10 seconds, and so much more. Got my $20, but I truly lost in the end.”
“Loved Every Second Of It”
“My senior year of high school I hyped up my love for Jif peanut butter to my friends. I freaking love Jif peanut butter and ate it straight out of the jar constantly because it’s just good.
My friends had me put it to the test, and one Friday at lunch had me try to eat a whole jar of peanut butter. Needless to say I finished it within our 55-minute lunch period.
The best part was these food challenges became a staple at our table, and every Friday from then on out one was held until I graduated and I loved every second of it.”
His Friend Didn’t Honor His End Of The Deal
“It was a $10 bet when I was like 20 or so. A friend bet me I couldn’t fit two McDonald’s Big Mac’s in my mouth. I gloriously proved him wrong. I mashed both those meat-patties in my mouth, bun and all, and was able to close my mouth and lips.
He then made me eat it all without spitting any of it out. That took some effort and time, but it eventually happened. How I didn’t choke to death, I’ll never know.
There’s a picture somewhere, but it probably lost to time seeing as it was 20 years ago. The worst part, he never paid me the $10. Thankfully, he paid for the burgers.”
“I Won’t Die, Why Not?”
“Basically, a couple of friends and I decided to try these really spicy Asian Ramen noodles, but we only had one pack, so we said we’d each take 1 bite at a time. We all took our first bites, followed by me and my friends, all putting our tongues under running water.
One was in the upstairs bathroom, one in the kitchen. After 15 minutes of just cooling down, the burning went away before one of my friends dares me to finish the bowl.
I just thought. ‘I won’t die, why not?’
I threw up.”
He Didn’t Bail Out
“I absolutely love spicy foods and have somewhat of a tolerance for the really hot stuff. Well, while visiting my parents, my dad was telling me about how hot the ghost pepper was.
I jokingly said, ‘Oh I’d love to try one, that’d be an experience.’
Well, this man walks into the kitchen, and back out onto the patio about 10 seconds later and says ‘I knew you were going to say that. so I bought one when I was at the store!’
Obviously I’m not gonna look like a wimp and bailout of eating it in front of my dad, so, naturally, I ate it. Little did I know how hot they were. The pain is almost unbearable. It literally feels like someone lit a propane torch, and shoved it down your throat. I puked several times, drank probably half a gallon of milk, and probably lost an additional 5lbs from sweating.
Not to mention having my butt explode like a volcano the next day, it felt like I was also pooping lava.
0/10 would not recommend it.”
“Totally Worth It”
“After the AP tests in high school, one of my friend’s AP class was having a party day where they were just going to eat food and watch a movie. My friend brought in some ridiculously intense hot sauce.
My friends in high school knew I love hot food, so this friend made a bet with me. He bet $10 for me to stop by his class between my classes, dip a tortilla chip in the Truff hot sauce, and eat it. Sounds really simple, but it was seriously hot. Hot like if you smelled it your eyes would start to water. He just wanted me to dip it. You know, take a triangle tortilla chip, dip the corner in a good amount, and eat it.
I didn’t want there to be any question though. I wanted to over-do it. I searched for a chip that was all rolled up so I could scoop it out, and then I stopped when I saw a bag of Tostitos Scoops on the counter. I found the biggest chip I could, dipped the chip in like a ladle, and ate the whole thing in one bite.
I was nearly late to class, so I had to leave right after I ate the chip. I sat in my English class and my mouth felt like it was literally on fire for what seemed like hours, but couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes, my eyes watering and nose running the whole time while I’m reading Hamlet.
My friend gave me the money on the bus after school. Totally worth it.”
At Least He Won
“When I was younger, I drank an incredible amount of water every day. About 10 water bottles and a few glasses each day were normal. One day at a hibachi restaurant, I wanted to challenge myself.
I pestered my sister to bet me $5 on how many full glasses of water I could down at the restaurant since it would be multiple courses and take quite a while. She refused and told me to just do it any way, but I convinced her to bet 25 cents just for the principle.
We settled on eight and a half glasses as the mark to beat. I won the bet, but it ruined my night. My stomach felt like it was going to burst like a Coca-Cola can in the freezer until the morning.”
“Ruined The Entire Trip”
“I ordered banana fritters thinking they’d be pancakes because my insecure self felt overlooked as my older brother was praised for his cosmopolitan taste buds. A bigger mistake was made.
These were literally four full bananas in chickpea batter, fried to drown. I ate them because my little psychotic kid ego would’ve taken a massive dip with my parents’ I told you so faces.
Ruined the entire trip because I threw up initially cause of how disgusting they were. Then, through the day cause the taste lingered in my mouth and then, every second day for the next month because of the memory of the sheer horror they tasted like.”
She Was Not Impressed
“I was in 8th grade and this was at lunch. All my friends were messing with the food I didn’t finish on my tray, they had the great idea to grab the mayo packet from my tray and put it all in the half hull carton of chocolate milk on my tray and put five Goldfish in my milk. They then added carrots, and something else I forgot about.
After they were done making their concoction, one of my friends said if I drank all of that he’d give me five dollars, and he pulled the five dollars from his pocket and showed me. I didn’t want the five dollars, I just wanted to impress my crush(who was sitting nearby.)
So I said ‘Nah. I’ll drink it for free,’ and chugged the carton of nasty fluids.
I almost threw up drinking it. When I looked over at my crush she was laughing but I think she was laughing at me and not with me, it wasn’t worth it in the end.”
“Hope It Was Worth It”
“During an internship, one night we had sushi delivered for dinner, including about half a pound of wasabi for all of us, all in one container. One of the people overseeing the internship told me I could have Friday off if I ate the whole thing (we worked Sunday-Friday during this internship).
I declined, but another intern took him up on the challenge. About halfway through he runs to the bathroom and we hear him violently puking, then he just leaves. He did get the Friday off despite not really doing his part, hope it was worth it.
In college, I bet a friend $20 he couldn’t eat a heaping spoonful (more like a ladle) of Morton table salt with Tapatío hot sauce mixed in and not throw up for an hour after. He ate it, while I remembered I heard a vet tell us once that we could use salt as an emetic for our dog.
We never tried with the dog, but the vet was right because less than 20 minutes later my friend was puking and I kept my money.”
Some Unpleasant Side Effects
“About eight years ago, during the winter I decided to eat only Asha ramen for whatever reason. Ordered a huge box full of the cheap square packages, different flavors and went for it.
After about a week I took a hot shower and somewhere during that I noticed that my feet were swelling up like a balloon. My feet and lower legs were kinda looking like the Michelin man. Just without the stripey bits.
Had to wear compressions and take diarrhea medicine for two weeks. That was not smart.”
“Earned Numerous Bonus Points”
“At a trivia night, I used to go to a decade ago there, was a round called ‘Sink or swim.’ You got a point if you successfully guessed if the random item of the week would sink or swim in a jug of water (couldn’t be an adult drink, as would be ‘promoting irresponsible drinking’). For a bonus point, you could volunteer to drink the jug with the item in it.
I earned numerous bonus points even when our team was far ahead and didn’t need it, or so far back we couldn’t win or even place. The trivia host realized that I would drink anything after a few weeks and it escalated pretty quickly…including races against others and donning far less clothing than my translucent body should be seen in.
The short-list:
Whole dim sim (steamed, then fried) swallowed whole. This lead to about four days of gut pains.
Five hundred grams of Morton salt (stupidly bit a chunk of undissolved salt at the end). This resulted in me throwing up about three jugs worth trying to get rid of the salt.
Two hundred grams of McCormickchili powder – burnt on the way down, on the way up, and on the way out.
And winner; Iams dog food. Honestly, it didn’t taste bad, but the smell was horrific, kept it down. But, it clogged me up for a week and ended up on a drip in the hospital as I couldn’t keep any food or drink down.
I could do it. So I did.”
Never Going To Forget That One
“When I was in 11th grade, I was waiting at the bus stop while it was raining after school with some friends. Then I see an open bag of Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion chips, my favorite kind. So me being the gluttonous person I still am, walked up to it, picked it up, gave it a once over to make sure it actually had chips in it, then started chowing down on them.
I then walked up to my friends, who hadn’t seen me pick it up.
They asked me where I got them, and with a straight face said ‘On the ground over there,’ and pointed to where it was.
They never let me live it down, and I’m still sure it was through divine intervention I didn’t get sick.”
“Worst Decision Of The Night”
“A group of friends and I hung out late night at another friend’s house, and he brought out some Louisiana hot sauce, and I’m talking hot, hot sauce. Like 1,250,000 Scoville heat units.
I always used to claim I had the highest spice tolerance out of us so naturally, I was told to have some. My stupid self chugged at least three shots of that stuff and acted as though nothing happened.
Flash forward twenty minutes later and I quietly went upstairs and puked it all up in the bathroom which really saved my bottom.
Drinking the stuff was the worst decision of the night, but puking it back up was probably the smartest.”
There Was At Least Some Relief
“I was doing my PhD, and my supervisor hosted a summer party at his place. He had made a huge pot of chili that was sat on the stove, and next to it was a bowl of Tabasco chili peppers. I asked how many went in the pot of chili and he said about a quarter of a pepper, and it was a spicy chili. So I took one of the chili’s, and put it on my plate, as a joke.
Back in the sitting room, I was sat next to a new student, and we were eating from our plates. I took the chili pepper and put it in my mouth and started rolling it around. I turned to her and showed her the chili in my mouth.
Her eyes got really big and she said, ‘You wouldn’t dare!’
Chomp. Chomp chomp chomp. Swallow.
Hey, not bad. For a few seconds, there was a pleasant taste in my mouth. Suddenly, my mouth filled with the fires straight from the underworld that ripped down my throat straight into my stomach. I must have turned all sorts of weird colors because a student in the nursing program suddenly started to pay close notice. I was gasping and writhing in pain, and the student asked if I was ok because she had seen people needing hospital treatment from chili indiscretion.
I waved that off but for the next hour, I spent alternating sticking my tongue in a glass of apple juice or a handful of sugar, both of which provided relief but as soon as I removed my tongue it would be overcome by flames again. I finally was able to resume eating but left the spicy chili alone.
For the next 16 hours, I felt that bad boy make its way all the way through my intestines. From one side of my belly to the other and back again. I was back in the lab when I felt the call of nature, which I had been dreading since the night before.
As I walked the length of the lab with a grim and determined look on my face, a student who had also been at that party looked up from his work, looked at me with the most eager schadenfreude grin on his face, his eyes sparkling, and said with a voice full of glee and anticipation, ‘Is it time? Is it time?’
I nodded. It was time.
It took another 10 years before I could eat spicy food again. I’m still not up to where I was before and I don’t think I ever will be.”