What's Local this Week at Costco (Oak Brook)

Costco?

Of tiny hydroponic bell peppers and triple washed (but washed enough?) lettuce, Costco? While I pledge (or hope) that a deformed "baby" carrot never again touches the tender lips of my precious offspring, I still find plenty of reasons to shop at Costco. After all, it's a leading Blue company. And you never know what you might find.

Yesterday was the second time I've run into a Wisconsin cheese extravaganza at Costco. As I noted on my last post on the Eat Local Challenge Blog, I've come to find that the very fact that something is local makes it taste especially good for me. Some times I wonder if my love for local cheeses is delusional. Plenty of foodies seem more interested in Red Hawk this or Vermont that. Me, I'm plenty satisfied with what I find around me--and at sale at Costco in Oak Brook, Illinois this week.

How much am I brainwashed on local, well, what got us to the Wisconsin cheese display in the first place were samples of pepper jack. A very typical, cheap, commercial type Wisconsin cheese. Yet, like 97% of cheese spreads and cheddar shaped like footballs, it tasted darn good. We took. It was not just cheesy cheeses. For instance Costco was also offering a Carr Valley, Cocoa Cardona, for a reasonable price of $12/lb. We got pretty much all of the varieties on sale yesterday, about five types of Wisconsin cheese.

Not just cheese, Costco was also selling big ol' Wisconsin smoked hams that ran about $50 per. If I was having a Christmas party, I'd surely buy one.

Local is where you find it. In a world where some version of mozzarella can go with some version of tomato every day of the year, it's nice to know that there is also something unique, regional, even there at your Costco. Seek this out. Your brain might turn as mushy as mine.