The Double Dip

I tend to shy away from free food samples offered by vendors in small stores or farmer's markets for a few reasons. Usually it's because I don't want to feel obligated to buy the product I'm sampling, or have to pretend I like it when I don't. There are enough awkward situations in life with which to contend that I don't need another. But a couple of weeks ago, I acted against my better judgment and let a friend convince me to sample some nutella spread at the Park Slope Farmer's Market in Brooklyn. There were little spoons in a plastic cup next to a larger container of the nutella.   I grabbed a spoon, dipped it into the spread, and had my taste. It was delicious, and around $10 a jar, so I was glad that the vendor was busy talking to someone else and I was able to just throw the spoon out and walk away. 

I thought nothing of the nutella again until I was going through some b-roll I was shooting at the market for a cooking show I'm working on. I was about to delete the file I was reviewing mostly because people kept walking in front of the camera. But then I saw something that has given me another reason to swear off free samples forever.