Whenever I would watch the games at my parents' house, mom would make the chicken dip from above and the Rotel dip you described. My dad would eat the chicken dip, but not the Rotel dip because the thought the Rotel dip looked like vomit. We joked around that it *looked* like vomit. Much later we found out it really was vomit. You see, mom held a grudge against dad because he would routinely ridicule gammy behind her back. My grandmother--mom's mom--had been quite famous as Barnum Bailey's bearded lady until a tragic electric razor accident left her with a horribly scarred lower lip, forcing her to retire to Western Nebraska at a young age where she met Gramps, a fellow with a rather strong affinity for facial hair. Anyway, mom would get furious when dad called gammy "Beardy Weirdy" behind her back. To get even mom would serve him a dish of dog vomit Rotel dip right along side the chicken dip. I think she used cloves and vinegar to mask the smell. But for a long time he wouldn't touch the stuff. After serving this Rotel dish up during game days for about five years, dad finally tried it. He immediately spit it out and yelled, "THIS STUFF TASTES LIKE DOG VOMIT!!" To which mom replied, "It is dog vomit. Now quit calling my mom "Beardy Weirdy" behind her back or next time I'll put arsenic in your cheerios." :huh:
The funny part is, I always wondered how my dad knew what dog vomit tasted like.