My cat is afraid of her dish!

I have NO idea what happened between noon and 6 pm today, but Pearl is
afraid of dishes! I went to feed her as usual and she was ultra cautious
about approaching her dish and she finally got her nose to the food and then
jumped back and wouldn't eat. Now, she had a furball come up a bit later so
I thought "OK, an unusual reaction to wanting to hork up a hairball but this
must be the problem," She did then later eat some dry out of the "fav" dish
by the big cat TV, but even that was kind of "peck peck" in nature. So I
tried some chicken juice and chicken in a smaller dish. No go. I put it on
the bare floor and she ate it. So I put some in a dish like the dry food is
in, and she moved away from it, just like when they are afraid of something.
So now later I open a can of fancy feast thinking "this will do it". Nope.
She wanted it. She meowed for it, but she acted afraid of the dish. I tried
a bigger one, a flatter one, a green one. No go. Finally she was sitting on
the carpeted base of the cat tree in the kitchen and so I just stuck a lump
of the food right on the carpet. She was a tad cautious about going to eat
it (like the food might jump up and bite her) but once she took a bite, she
at the whole little pile down. Now, what happened to her????? Why is she
suddenly afraid of wet food on a dish? Did she accidentally bop herself with
one today or something? Pearl is a very outgoing cat and not very skittish.
I just cannot figure it out. It is just the most bizzare thing. I really
really hope she gets over this.