For as wide a variety of food that Taiwanese say there is in Taiwanese cuisine, I seem to always see the same five or so choices when eating out. Then again it goes the other way too, when Taiwanese always say that American food seems to just be burgers. Even when I take them to an American restaurant that has some other dishes that they really enjoy, they still leave thinking that American food is just burgers.
Eating the same foods every day can be a drain after a few weeks, if not after a few days. In the past this would send me to the restaurant opened by a chef who used to work at the best restaurant in the world, or a high class french restaurant, or some over priced american restaurant. Now that I am a full time student, these times when I need to escape to have some different food, sends me to one place...Costco.
Costco is a life saver for a few reasons, first it allows me to have a lot of unique food that you can't get anywhere else in Taiwan. Particularity food from back home i may be missing. It also is a great time saver, as when I have food stored up, I don't have to take the time to go out and find food or prepare something at home. Also since it's always way too much food for one person to eat alone, it's a great way to keep in touch with my friends. It sends me around town meeting up with friends to give them some of the food they enjoy. Always nice to put a smile on their face and show them how much I care.
There is one drawback with costco, and this one is killer....they are not always consistent with their offerings. What I mean is that they might have some product for a few months, and then never have it ever again. This can be heartbreaking those times when I'm fed up with the food around me and feel that what will save me is going to costco to get X, only to finally go to costco and they no longer sell X. I'm still crying because years ago they stopped selling one kind of cereal I love. But recently this happened with a baked good I enjoyed. For about a week I was really craving their cinnamon buns, but when I got there, they didn't have any. I asked the bakery worker and he said they are no longer making them.
As a foreigner I try to always conduct myself well, less other people judge all foreigners by my actions. But this was a time when a grown man cried like a baby in the middle of the store. Well maybe an exaggeration, but I was heart broken. Unfortunately this is just one of the things that happens when you live in a country where 23 million people don't share your taste in food. Many of the things i like, don't sell well. But I also partly blame costco as the cinnamon buns were kind of terrible if you just opened up the package and ate them, but if you heated them up, they were delectable. I wish they could have put some note on the package to encourage people to heat them up.
The picture above is where the cinnamon buns used to be. Sign...goodbye my friends....
