struggle plate

A dish of food that either looks like nasty, unappetizing slop or is simply ugly in presentation, even if it might actually taste good.

Term even applies to when one posts a picture that exposes his or her lack of culinary savvy. Person who prepared said food is usually quite delusional, really believing they just threw down like a gourmet chef at a restaurant rated tops in a Zagat survey.

Term known to have originated as a trending topic hashtag on Twitter, most often triggered on Thanksgiving. Spread to a Tumblr site, Instagram, and elsewhere on the net.