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At some point, many of us have found something disgusting in our food. It’s just a fact of life: The more food you eat, the higher the likelihood that a foreign object of some sort will find its way into it. If you’re lucky, you notice it before you take your first bite. If you’re not, you end up eating it before noticing.
But depending on what “it” is, the experience can scar you for life.
A recent question posed to Quora asked readers what the most disgusting thing they’ve ever found in their food was. Consider yourself lucky that you haven’t had the same experience as these folks.
Life is like a box of chocolates...
“To this day I’m not sure if it was a crime, black magic or the most disgusting coincidence. I was a kid and it was my friend’s mom’s birthday. We went to the grocery store (big, well maintained) to buy a box of chocolates for her. We weren’t in the room when she opened the actual chocolate box, only the wrapping and suddenly we hear her shrieking / screaming for us as if we did something bad.
The box was full of insects!
I’m talking earthworms, moths, bugs, you name it - this was obviously not natural, like if there had been a couple of maggots - how does an earthworm get into a box of chocolates and what does it want in there? We quickly (well…) convinced her that it wasn’t a disgusting prank by us and that was that, sadly, I don’t remember much of the aftermath, this wasn’t in the US so she didn’t sue them for millions or anything. I think she got a coupon for another box of chocolate in the mail after complaining, haha. I will never forget what it looked like though, it was a scene from hell with all the different insects stuffed behind the plastic crawling over each other and the moldy chocolate.” — Subandi Khairun
Don't try to worm your way out of this one.
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“… I started eating and noticed a strange taste, kind of as if the ham had gone bad. I didn’t really pay much attention to it as I was famished—I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast—and in a hurry to get to the gym before my coach arrived. I kept eating; one [bite], then another, and another. Approximately halfway through my pastelito, for no particular reason I decided to take a look at it, [and] my pastelito was filled with fly worms; there were more fly worms in it than ham. They seemed to be crawling out of the pastelito, fighting each other to get out in the war of a million fly worms. The worst part was realizing that I had already eaten half my pastelito, so I started gagging and coughing out all the ham and worms out of my mouth.” — Jorge Méndez
Sandwich with a scratch.
“I once went to a doner kebab place near my house, ordered a kebab and engaged in consumption. And then I bit into something very hard. Investigating the kebab, I found something odd and after wiping it off meat and vegetables I realized it was a full size human fingernail.
Let that sink in.
Trying not to vomit, I picked up the kebab and went to complain to the waitress, who was apparently trying to find something nervously. Miss, I believe that’s yours - I said as I dropped her fingernail onto the bar and walked out.” — Jacek Karaszewski
We're not pointing fingers but...
“Once this happened [with] my uncle, a few years back. He went for a business trip to South Africa (I don't remember which city that was) and he went to grab some lunch at this restaurant, he ordered a rice and curry meal and when it arrived he saw a human thumb right in the middle of the curry. He went totally nuts seeing that and ate just bread and mayonnaise for 3 days.” — Piyali Rahut
A big boo-boo.
“My best friend and I went to lunch there at least once a month with our mothers, who were also very good friends — and we always ordered The Shrimp Louie, which was loaded with shrimp. As was our custom, we ordered and while waiting, we laughed and talked about anything and everything, just like best friends do. About halfway through our salads, my mother suddenly put a napkin to her mouth and started making retching sounds. Of course, the rest of us turned to see what in the world was the matter. Mama reached into her napkin and pulled out a used Bandaid and dropped it on the tablecloth, still making her retching sounds. Inside, you could see a yellow-ish stain in the middle of the Bandaid’s gauze pad. “Oh my God,” we said in unison, “that’s pus!” Needless to say, no one finished their salad. When management found out, they were horrified and apologetic. Our salads were on the house …” — C.J. Heck
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