1. An awful meal.
2. A food that literally tastes fecal.
3. A complex dish made with painstaking care but has catastrophically disappointing flavor.
4. Absolutely not a delicacy
The term is used so as not to offend the cook. Polite
society tells us that it is rude to be brutally honest when asked how enjoyable a particular meal was. Polite society also tells us it is rude to correct someone's mispronounciation of a word. So, while you said "defecacy," he or she
will think you meant "delicacy" but
will be too polite to correct you. You can be honest say the meal tasted like a shit but the cook
will believe you loved it. Everybody wins.