Food Snob.

When I was young, I was a pretty picky eater.  I didn’t like sandwiches.  The sight of peanut butter made me gag.  If my food was prepared in a pan that had ever cooked bell peppers I could seriously taste it.  As a teenager I went through a vegetarian phase though I hated all beans and peas.  I still don’t eat mayonnaise or mustard. And if any of the foods on my plate touched, I just couldn’t eat.  I know…ridiculous.

Then I went to college.  Got really hungry.  And decided that in order to survive (and by survive I mean have food delivered to my dorm room so that I didn’t have to stop playing Super Nintendo with Corie Hipp and Jenn Harvey), I needed to broaden my horizons.  This means I ate a ton of fast food, primarily late night, and gained the freshman 15 immediately.

At 20, I met Colin.  He was a good cook and somehow managed to get me to try things.  The first sandwich I ever ate was one that he made for me.  He also taught me to love rare red meat and introduced me to NY style pizza.  For the first six years of our relationship, he was Head Chef and we always ate very well.

Once I remembered how delicious “real” food was and expanded my palette, I turned my back on fast food.  This also meant I turned my back on most chain restaurants which I see as larger servings of fast food with the addition of silverware.  Colin didn’t put up a fight.  He felt the same way about it.  Though I will admit that pregnancy cravings and Chick-fil-a are the exceptions.

It’s funny.  I never really thought of us as food snobs, but I guess we kind of are.  I might still be oblivious if it hadn’t kept coming up in conversation lately.  Conversations about Costco, of all things.

In recent weeks I have had multiple people tell me how good the food is at Costco.  I’m not talking about the items you buy in bulk, stack in a box, and shove in the back of your car.  I’m talking about the “café” at the front of the store. 

Honestly, in all the years I’ve been shopping at Costco it has never once occurred to me to eat there.  It looks like food you would see in a gas station, drying out under a heat lamp or rolling up that never-ending wiener ramp.  The pizzas don’t look appetizing and the only place I’m eating a churro outside of Mexico is at Frontierland in Disney World.

I know my Costco–lovin’ friends are gonna yell at me, but I just can’t do it.  I’m going to have to stand my ground on the whole not-eating-at-Costco thing and just be a big ol’ fat food snob.

In the meantime, head on over to Cibo’s on James Island for fantastic pizza.  Or go to Jack’s Cosmic Dogs if you’re looking for a fantastic hot dog.  Sorry, I don’t have an alternative for the churro.  But I’m gonna limit my time at Costco to buying Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and toilet paper.