We have moved east in Vermont to the southern end of an area called the Kingdom. We are in Lazy Lions Campground, just south of the state capitol of Montpelier. We are completely surrounded by the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont.
Today we headed into the hills to the rural town of Cabot for a tour of the Cabot Creamery. This company is a co-op of the surrounding farmers which has grown to be a national company selling cheeses and other dairy products all across the country. The number of farmers in the co-op has grown from the original 300 farms to over 1500 today. They reportedly still adhere to their original standards of free range dairy cows, no antibiotics, or other drugs in the milking herd. Our tour guide indicated they are very strict on these standards and every load of milk delivered to one of their creameries is tested for quality. If any of their standards are not met, the farmer who is responsible for the contamination of the truck load is obligated to pay the other farmers on that load for the lost revenue.
The town of Cabot remains small and looks like what I expected a small town in Vermont to look like based on old TV shows and movies. Only in a small town will you find a hardware store serving lunch in the back room of the store. After a quick look, we decided to pass. I can only say that if you remember the Bob Newhart show staged in Vermont and the characters Larry, and his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl, I need say no more.
Now for the rant. The creamery provides a sample table to try the various products of the company. We have avoided these samplers everywhere for the same reason. This one proved to be no exception. Despite the signs asking everyone to use the toothpicks (one each sample), the samplers were digging in with both hands and reusing the picks over and over in a feeding frenzy that would suggest that they had not seen food in weeks. Both the sanitary and general behavior was appalling. Even the cashier remarked on their performance. This is nothing new to us, as we have seen it across the country, where free samples are provided. We have adopted a general rule to never try samples.
9 comments:
Nice photos of rural America.
I have to agree on the samples that provide tooth picks. I am always leery of someone putting a used toothpick back in the unused pile.
I DO admit to taking samples at Costco however. Most of those have a person right there serving and watching the samples. And they are usually served in individual little paper containers. It's a good way to try something new without buying a huge portion.
Hmmm...guess I haven't run into that sampling behavior before, but I'll keep my eyes peeled!
I'm thinking of visiting Vermont next summer.
Like Donna, I rarely take samples except at Costco. I will have to be more careful when presented with samples elsewhere. I didn't realize people would actually use their hands when toothpicks are provided.
Great pictures of the old farms, churches and buildings. Nice to see some businesses still function the old fashioned way.
Never eat samples myself.
Love the pictures and the buildings... reminds me of our trip to Vermont. I think we went to that place, but I'm not sure.
I feel that way about buffets... Hubster enjoys them, but I talk him out of them every chance I get!!
double dipping is another thing?!..eww!!..its okay when its your own bowl of dip but when it's a community bowl..double eww!!
Great pictures and a great blog, Vermont is on our list of places to visit, thanks for the info.
That's the same reason we don't do buffet restaurants of any kind also!!
Thank you for visiting us!
About sampling - yes, it's an issue, we agree. We try. If you have any suggestions to overcome this, we're all ears!
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