Waiter, there's a ___ in my ___!

Did you ever find a foreign object in your food? You know, the kind that is absolutely not supposed to be there?

Today, my husband was preparing a lunch of his favorite locally made hotdogs (as he did yesterday). He reached into the package of buns and retrieved one that had a 1.5 inch thin shard of glass stuck to the bottom..not baked in. Being the type who cares about the welfare of my fellow man, I immediately looked up the company's phone number to report the problem. The person who answered on this holiday Saturday, was probably the lone guy (custodian? security guard?) who pulled duty today. He told me he would contact the custormer rep. at her home, and she would probably want to call me Monday. Nooooo, within 10 minutes, the customer rep. calls, obviously concerned. I described the details etc..and reassured her that we were not looking for compensation, or the possiblity of a lawsuit, we just wanted to alert the company. (A lifetime supply of buns would be nice though) Much relieved, and very grateful, she said she would send me an overnight mailer to return the offending bun -mit -glass, to her. She then asked if she could find a traveling sales rep. in the area (fat chance on 4th of July, Saturday) could he stop by the house to get the bun(dle). Of course, I gave her contact info. but didn't hold my breath that someone on bun patrol would be ringing my doorbell today.

So what interesting surprises have you found in your food?

JuliaB

Something that looked (and felt in my mouth) like a dried insect (about the size of a common household cockroach) in a bag of slightly puffed corn nuts from the Phillipines. I just set it aside and kept eating. Not opposed to crunchy dried insects, just not in this package!

Over a course of quite a few years, quite a few things have turned up in the foods that I have tasted. Let's let one story suffice..... One of Israel's chains of cafes accompanies every cup of coffee with a small piece of milk chocolate, that wrapped nicely first in foil and then in paper. On one occasion, I unwrapped my tidbit of chocolate to find it quite literally crawling with little white worms.

Truth is, I was more amused than upset but did take the chocolate, held gingerly by its paper wrapper to the young woman in charge of the shift, my concern being merely to be certain they would check the freshness of that particular lot of chocolates. Poor young woman, took one look at the thing in my hand, turned around and vomited all over two otherwise happy clients.

Ah well....c'est la vie.


Best
Rogov

I once bit into a pencil that had been in a bag of corn chips.

I had dinner at an Indian restaurant with a bunch of fellow undergrad and grad school computer nerds. My katori of sambar had a rubber band in it.

We of course immediately deemed the situation to be a "feed check". (Any computer nerd old enough to have operated an IBM card reader will get the joke. For those who don't: "Feed Check" is the error reported when the hopper feeding punch cards to an IBM card reader jams. (The most common cause of a Feed Check is if a user places a deck of punch cards into the hopper without first taking off the rubber band used to hold the card deck together.)

-Paul W.

Not sure if this really happened but I heard of a place that use to recycle buns, after a table got up and left the restaurant, as the story goes the next guest that sat down received there bread and when she went to slice it in half to spread butter on it there was a note inside saying USED BREAD. Relating to me I found a used band aid on the inside of my togo bag I won't say which fast food place it was but it is the number one restaurant chain in the world.

I once found a fried cockroach in a toasted panini. Never went back there again. In hindsight, I should have called the health department.

I bit into a lead shotgun pellet in a Sunkist raisin once. Another time--in a bag of Green Giant peas--out came a large plastic corner of what was probably a conveyor chute. I alerted them and assured them I didn't want to sue, but they might want to check their processing facilities. I received a bunch of coupons.

Nothing more than a bug in some produce from our garden or the Farmer's Market produce. Whew, I guess I have been lucky so far!

Pregnant with first child, at a steakhouse chain, found a bug in the salad, pointed it out to the waiter, and he enthusiastically said, "That's nothing - you oughta see what we find in the meat!"

Also found a sharpened slug in a cube of "artisanal" butter.

Not me, but my older son.

He went to a very responsible and hip day care when he was a twerp.

They served breakfast with local organically raised eggs, usually scrambled.

On e morning he noticed something extra in his portion. Turned out it was a chick embryo.

I think it was a couple of decades before I got him to eat scrambled eggs.

Ewww I knew this thread had real gross out potential. It would be hard to choose the worst among white worms, fried roaches, used bandaids and fetal chickens! I'm beginning to feel relieved that all we found was a piece of glass.

I've often found lead pellets in meats, but it was just failure to find all the shot when we cleaned the birds/game.
Once long ago I noticed a green caterpillar amongst the lettuce in a salad (at Red Lobster, blecch! It was my Ex's favorite). When I pointed it out to the waiter, he apologized profusely and took it to the kitchen. Within minutes the manager appeared, also apologizing, and said "of course your meals are on us".

Earlier this year, Recent University Grad stepson (art degree students should be taught upon entering college that they need to learn the phrase "Would you like fries with that?" for after graduation) brought home pizza after his delivery shift ended at the pizza chain (Papa John's), and when I bit into a slice, I felt something odd on it. Turns out that a wad of unidentified stuff that looked very much like the fiber-fill poly material such as is used to stuff the bodies of cloth dolls and pillows was thoroughly mixed into the shredded mozzarella on the 'pizza'. I pointed it out to the company rep in the next chair, and he said "just pick it off". I have no idea if he even mentioned it to the manager when he reported for work the next day.

Hey Julia!

I once had an experience similar to Robin's with the chocolate. I was pregnant with my first child and had gestational diabetes. I bought some Russell Stovers sugar free chocolates...bit into one. Put it down and noticed it was crawling with bugs...UGGGGHHH...it was pretty horrible! Also found an ant on a Roy Rogers Cheeseburger.

Hey Julia!

I once had an experience similar to Robin's with the chocolate. I was pregnant with my first child and had gestational diabetes. I bought some Russell Stovers sugar free chocolates...bit into one. Put it down and noticed it was crawling with bugs...UGGGGHHH...it was pretty horrible! Also found an ant on a Roy Rogers Cheeseburger.

Maria, we don't see much of you around here of late. Cooked anything on your "K" lately?

Hi Bob,

Things have been a bit hectic here lately, so I haven't been on much.

Yes, I have been using Henry a lot lately. Just had a BBQ a few weeks ago where I did ribs, a pork butt, and some chickens. I did a pork shoulder for the 4th and tonight I plan on doing a "London Broil" (just a big cut of meat...this one is a sirloin tip) and some baked potatoes. How 'bout you? How's the Hair Lamb?

At least I haven't found anything gross on the food from my K!

[Robin Garr]

When Mary and I were in Paris a couple of years ago, she found a tiny, live snail slowly crawling across her salad plate at Christian Constant. Being the kind-hearted soul that she is, she retrieved it on a napkin and carried it out to a nearby patch of grass to give it its freedom. At least we knew the greens were very fresh.

[Jenise]

and when she went to slice it in half to spread butter on it there was a note inside saying USED BREAD.

You've given me an idea of what to do in places I suspect of such things....

[Jenise]

Once long ago I noticed a green caterpillar amongst the lettuce in a salad (at Red Lobster, blecch! It was my Ex's favorite). When I pointed it out to the waiter, he apologized profusely and took it to the kitchen. Within minutes the manager appeared, also apologizing, and said "of course your meals are on us".

You fared better than I did when I once found a live cockroach in my salad. I motioned the waiter over and silently pointed at it so as not to rouse other customers. He took it away, then returned to offer me another salad. When I refused and asked for something else, he said, "Madam, this is not a big deal, it could happen at your own home!" At which point I lost all interest in not rousing the other customers, and said "No, no it wouldn't, this definitely would not happen at my home: I DON'T SERVE LIVE COCKROACHES IN MY SALADS!" They didn't comp my meal, instead they offered a free dessert but at a point where he knew we couldn't possibly accept it as we were on our way to the theater, a deadline the waiter'd been apprised of when we sat down.

Never went back. Note to all restaurants: you're not judged by the mistakes you make, you're judged by how you handle the mistakes you make.

Never went back. Note to all restaurants: you're not judged by the mistakes you make, you're judged by how you handle the mistakes you make.

I could not agree more. I had a policy in all my restaurants of offering free meals to guests with legitimate complaints - free meals the NEXT TIME they visited the restaurant.

When Mary and I were in Paris a couple of years ago, she found a tiny, live snail slowly crawling across her salad plate at Christian Constant. Being the kind-hearted soul that she is, she retrieved it on a napkin and carried it out to a nearby patch of grass to give it its freedom. At least we knew the greens were very fresh.

So she let the escargot?

They didn't comp my meal, instead they offered a free dessert but at a point where he knew we couldn't possibly accept it as we were on our way to the theater, a deadline the waiter'd been apprised of when we sat down.

You were better off without the free dessert. I'm sure you've heard the horror stories of kitchen retaliation!

JB

[Jenise]

You were better off without the free dessert. I'm sure you've heard the horror stories of kitchen retaliation!

JB

I was punished immediately: the pate I ordered (because it was a matter of slice-and-serve, no prep required) took another 20 minutes to come out. And when I called the owner of the restaurant to complain personally a few days later, he laughed in my face and expressed fake umbrage that I did not enjoy the extra protein.

I, in turn, have never hesitated to tell anyone that owner Jens of Jens Restaurant in Anchorage, Alaska, is reputed to have quite a rap sheet involving pursuit of underage females.

Never went back. Note to all restaurants: you're not judged by the mistakes you make, you're judged by how you handle the mistakes you make.

I could not agree more. I had a policy in all my restaurants of offering free meals to guests with legitimate complaints - free meals the NEXT TIME they visited the restaurant.

Why the next time, Chef? If you believed their complaints were legitimate, and not just put on to try and get out of paying? If they had a truly atrocious meal, would you still insist they pay?