Thread: Creepy or Normal Food?

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I am curious how many of you make crazy gross dishes or keep it normal and maybe use a scary/creepy names?? I hate to spend a lot of money on brain dips, etc when no one eats it. It is cool looking though!

I've got a cook book with a recipe called "Chicken 'n' Trimmings". I made it years ago for
family and we ended up calling it "road kill" because it looks so gross. It's become a favourite Halloween
dish. Same with some coconut bars. They looked so ugly we nicknamed them "barf bars". Both recipes
are considered "normal" but they look so gross they're perfect for Halloween!

I always have all creepy/gross food. It's all that my haunt originally was (a haunted supper) and it still revolves around it heavily. I enjoy finding new recipes each year and making the food grosser and more realistic haha.

creepy definately!

I only do attractive/"normal" food and then do creepy names, like "ware wolf balls" for meatballs and "bloody baked brie" (some of my dishes are decorated but still normal, like a 7-layer dip made in a round pan with a hot sauce spider web piped on top). From my experience, the "gross" dishes do not do well. For example, one year I made a gray seafood dip in the brain mold, and people had about two bites out of it. I want people to love the food at my party, so I'm sticking to things that look appealing. You eat with your eyes first, and my eyes say no to "litter box cake". I tip my hat to those who have success with creepy food though!

I think it all depends on how adventurous your friends and family are. Last year (first Halloween party), I pretty much stuck to making more appealing dishes and giving them creepy names. But in years to come, I fully intend on presenting some nasty good eats!

We always do some delicious food and give it spooky names. With regards to the brain mold, for a couple of years I made a delicious shrimp mousse, but it looked so creepy that my party goers hardly touched it. For the last two years I've made the "Glowing Martian Brain" with lime gelatin and crushed pineapple in the mold and then placed it on a clear plate and lit it with a changing LED light from underneath and usually the brain is gone by the end of the party! If you need help with ideas, just ask--I'm positive that lots of us who rename our foods would be happy to share our names and even recipes if you'd like!

I like to go with good foods that have strange names, etc...like spinach dip, serve it in a great halloween dish, and call it "stomach contents" or some such thing. Haven't ever tried to really gross people out with my foods. I'm a bit of a foodie, so I wouldn't serve something that would trigger the gag reflex :P

As Halloween Scream said, you eat with your eyes first. I'm not completely opposed to some creepyness with food, but gross looking foods wouldn't be eaten by my crowd and I'd hate to waste $$ with uneaten food.
I've made things like choc peanut butter eyeballs, which are eaten but there are always some who think even they are spooky. I do use a brain shaped mould filled with french onion dip and have it at the top of my veggie skeleton- this always does very well. Sorta like in this pic--


Other things on our menu are chicken wings renamed bat wings which go very fast! We've done a potato bake and called it creamy flayed flesh. Shortbread cookies called witches fingers. Names that are a bit spooky but not really gorey or stomach turning. I personally find that using spooky names is easier. As said previously tho, it really depends on your crowd.

I am gonna do a little of both this year and see how it goes.