I think it was Baskin and Robbins where I first encountered sampling. At Baskin and Robbins it made sense. Every month would be a new series of ice cream flavors and from the wacky names, how could you tell if it was really something that you wanted to commit to considering the ice cream was expensive. Considering the size of the sample they give out, even if a person tries six different flavors (I have seen people do this), I am sure practically no one says, "Ok thanks!" and walks away. If you came into the store, most likely you're not going empty handed. Especially when it comes to ice cream.

The wholesale clubs (BJ's, Constco, and Sams) followed suit. Most of the foods are knock-off brands and not brands we are accustomed to seeing in the grocery store. Also, the packages are huge! I know myself and other probably feel the same that I don't want to buy a package that big and spend that much money only to cook the food, take one bite, vomit, and throw the rest in the garbage can. By handing out samples, the food itself entices us to buy it.

My mother, God rest her soul, used to love to go to All You Can Eat buffets. Most of the time the food was awful. But the advantage was/is, you can take a little of this and a little of that and what you do like you can go back for seconds. You get to see, smell, and taste the food without ever really committing to it.

Even in Italy along the Auto-strealda (expressway), the rest stops had he food laid out behind glass where you could see it. My Italian sucks, but if I could speak Italian well enough, I probably could have gotten a sample before committing to a purchase.

My parrot Ryoko points the way to the argument and Shika's seed phrase finally blossoms in the mix. Do signs and menus really tell us anything about the food?