Brand Loyalty

Pickles and olives.  Two of my favorite foods.  I snack on both nearly every day.  Olives are easy to pick; it’s just a matter if you want black, green, kalamata, queen, spanish; in oil, in vermouth, in brine.  And then you get to pick if they’re stuffed!  Feta, bleu, provolone, artichoke, almond, garlic, jalapeño, pimento.  It is surprisingly simple, it simply depends on your mood.  And, of course, what you’re going to put them in if you don’t just eat them out of the jar.  That’s what I do.  I spear them out of the jar and onto the lid with my cute little olive shaped pick I got at Crate & Barrel last year.



Until recently, I would just stand at the Olive Department in Aisle 3 of Schnuck’s until I saw a jar that wasn’t yet in my collection - yes, I said collection - and be happy that I’d found a new assortment of olives, which let me tell you, didn’t happen often.  That changed in Chicago this past New Year’s.  We spent the weekend there with some good friends, and while shopping at The 900 Shops on Michigan Avenue we happened into an olive store.  Yes!  A store filled with olives as far as the eye could see!  Olives and olive oils and breads galore!  A plethora of olives!  I was in heaven, and let me tell you - I went on a spending spree!  I bought as much as I could carry and then some, olives up to $40 per jar!  Those were the bleu cheese stuffed, and they are amazing!

Just recently Evansville opened The Fresh Market, a totally new grocery store experience for this town.  It is kind of reminiscent of a street market (hence the name?) where you can walk from the butcher shop to the floral stand to the bakery.  They provide all sorts of things that we haven’t seen in Evansville before, from quail and duck to coho salmon and premium veal cuts!  My favorite part?  The Antipasto Bar.  A buffet-style selection of olives, with a few marinated tomatoes and cheeses.  Olives of all kinds!  Just this morning I selected a few olives marinated in pepper juices, with fresh ground peppers on top.  Now, I’ve had olives stuffed with red peppers (my favorite from Harry & David) and jalapeños, but never anything like this.  It was like my tastebuds had a bonfire in my mouth.  Hot, hot, hot!  But super-duper yummy!  A new favorite! Another exciting find was a new brand of pickles.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love pickles, but I am a finicky pickle eater.  Given a choice, I’ll only eat one brand: Claussen kosher dill halves.  They’re simply the best!  As a fan of natural and organic foods, and those grown to local growers rather, I decided to try a jar of Rick’s Pick’s.  They claimed to be crunchy and sour, two criteria for a good pickle, so I thought I couldn’t go wrong.  Well I was wrong.  I should’ve stuck to my Claussens. 

While being adventurous at the grocery store can be fun, it can also be a lesson.  Some things are “tried and true” for a reason.  It’s times like this that make me wish every market had those little tasting carts you find at Sam’s Club and Costco.