I don't mean to be rude, but my aunt used to be a terrible cook

I don't understand how everyone used to rave about her cooking and give her compliments - perhaps they were just being polite. As a kid we went to her and her husband's place for dinner and she served a simple roast and I remember thinking the food was almost as bad as my mother's cooking. The only way I can describe the roast was that it tasted strange. She once attempted an ice-cream cake that included actual cake. This desert was comprised of melted ice-cream that had been re-frozen again, and stale left over birthday cake. 🤢

I must say her cooking in recent years has much improved (she can make really good stuffed potatoes), but I don't get how my family actually liked her cooking, or at least pretended to.