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Holiday food is mostly a love story. We asked readers to pass judgment on the dishes of holidays past, and across six of our articles, the heart emoji won by a landslide. But every great love story has a few characters nobody wants to invite back.
Please note that some of the images in this article were created with the assistance of AI.
Here’s how it worked: readers tapped a ❤️ or a 👎 under each food photo. No names, no accounts, no tasting involved — just gut reactions to pictures of dishes that once ruled the festive table. All anonymous, all honest.
And when it came to a certain glossy red ring and a banana standing at attention, readers absolutely did not hold back.
We Asked What Deserves to Stay in the Past
Between Sep 26 and Oct 25, 2026, 1,436 readers cast 5,915 votes across 193 foods. Six articles fed the project: one Thanksgiving and five Christmas. Each reader could weigh in once per photo, and the verdicts piled up fast.
The headline number is a warm one: overall 74% of votes were a ❤️. Most of the old holiday spread, it turns out, is still deeply cherished.
But this article is about the exceptions. Among foods with 20+ votes, 15 foods got more 👎 than ❤️. These are the dishes readers politely — or not so politely — suggested we leave in the past.
The Dishes Readers Would Not Miss
At the very bottom sat the Cranberry Candle Salad, which charmed just 12% of 24 voters. Its cousin, the Candle Salad Made With Bananas and Pineapple Rings, didn’t fare much better at 21% of 62.
From there the parade continued: Turnip Puff Casserole at 26% of 50, Persimmon Pudding With Hard Sauce, Spooned From the Cut-Glass Bowl at 26% of 23, and a cluster of tomato aspic entries hovering in the high twenties and low thirties. The Tomato Aspic Served With Mayonnaise managed 28% of 64, the Savory Tomato Aspic on Lettuce 29% of 24, and the Tomato Aspic Christmas Ring 32% of 25.
Rounding out the least-loved crowd were the Perfection Salad With Shredded Cabbage and Celery at 33% of 36, Wild Rice Dressing With Chicken Livers at 37% of 46, Creamed Spinach Crowned With Chopped Hard-Boiled Egg at 40% of 38, Roast Goose With Baked Apples at 40% of 20, and Scalloped Oysters With Cracker Crumbs at 41% of 22. A humbling lineup, all told.
Tomato Aspic Lost Every Single Time
❤️ 28% of 64 readers who voted on this photo
If one dish defined the bottom of the chart, it was tomato aspic. It showed up in several articles, in several guises, and readers turned it down every time.
The Tomato Aspic Served With Mayonnaise landed at 28% of 64. Served on lettuce, it reached 29% of 24. Molded into a Christmas Ring, 32% of 25. Studded With Celery and Stuffed Olives, 33% of 15. No disguise saved it.
Pool all the tomato aspic photos together and you get 30% across 128 votes. A perfect losing streak, delivered with a shimmer.
Gelatin Molds and Candle Salads: A Hard Pass
The candle salad — a banana standing upright, crowned with a cherry — was never going to have an easy time, and it didn’t. The banana-and-pineapple version drew 21% of 62, the Cranberry Candle Salad just 12% of 24, and A Snowy Candle Salad Made With Banana and Pineapple 33% of 6.
Pooled, all candle salads together scored 20% across 92 votes. Not exactly a mandate.
The wider world of wobble fared better but still landed below the line: all gelatin & molded salads together earned 47% across 621 votes. Set that against the 74% overall across all six articles, and the molds come out looking like the group most ready for retirement.
Oysters Split the Table Right Down the Middle
❤️ 54% of 77 readers who voted on this photo
Oysters weren’t hated so much as hotly debated. All oyster dishes together landed at 54% across 282 votes — roughly a coin flip, which feels about right for a shellfish nobody feels lukewarm about.
The spread was wide. Oyster Stew on Christmas Eve warmed readers up to 75% of 48, the clear favorite of the bunch. Scalloped Oysters With Cracker Crumbs took 54% of 77 in one place and 41% of 22 in another, while Scalloped Oysters Under Buttery Cracker Crumbs managed only 20% of 10.
The stuffings and stews hovered near the middle: Oyster Stuffing Baked Inside the Turkey at 49% of 67, Oyster Stuffing at 54% of 22, and Oyster Stew Served as the First Course at an even 50% of 36. However you serve them, oysters remain a dish that divides the room.
The Bottom Line
So what did readers tell us? That the holiday table is mostly safe — 74% of votes came back as a ❤️, and the old favorites are still favorites. The grudges were saved for a short, specific list: tomato aspic in every form, candle salads of every stripe, and the molded salad genre as a whole.
Oysters, meanwhile, get to stay — barely, and only if there’s a vote. Everything else that shimmered, wobbled or stood a banana upright? Readers were happy to wave it goodbye and wish it a fond, firmly nostalgic farewell.
How we did this
- Readers of six of our holiday food articles (one Thanksgiving, five Christmas) tapped ❤️ or 👎 under each food photo between Sep 26 and Oct 25, 2026.
- 1,436 readers cast 5,915 votes on photos still in those articles. Each reader can vote once per photo. Votes are anonymous: no names, emails or accounts.
- Percentages are the share of ❤️ votes. The 95% ranges show how much a result could move with more votes; when two ranges overlap, we call it too close to call.
- Readers were reacting to photos of each dish, not tasting it. The food photos are illustrations.
- When the same food appeared in more than one article, its photos are pooled for the repeat-offender chart.
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