That makes me hungery >_>
oohh? we do have lots of free food in singapore too :D but nornally during weekends where the crowd is at the peak
"Back in the UK, I never saw free food at Tescos - only the free food that people walkout with without paying for..." Hahahahahahahaha... I've realised you always mention Tescos whenever you are talking about UK supermarkets... what's with Asda ,Sainsbury, etc.?
Nice lol...if you hit Costco on the weekends over here you can do the same...they serve soup, bbq chicken drumstics, sausages, and more...need to be a member though.
What a coincidence, i went to Costco today and walked in circles around their samples until i got stuffed full. ^^; Bought some California rolls too.
We've got our Costco here. They serve you the free samples. In costco japan, do maids serve you instead? lol.
In the supermarkets in my place, there are always people giving out free samples of 'Tongkat Ali' (Eurycoma longifolia) coffee. I tasted at least 3 kinds of different brands and they all taste the same. Stuff with 'Tongkat Ali' written on it has a viral marketing potential. You can read more about it in Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongkat_Ali
My area, "free-food" usualy is on weekend, sometime weekday also have, but alot of people gather there >.
When I lived in western australia, promotional companys gave out free full meals at shopping centers and train stations just for promotional purposes. It was pretty cool. I've noticed in Nagoya you get tiny samples at supermarkets instead :(
Well it depends, sometimes the free food they have is those cheese and hams that we can taste with a little of wine ^^
Weekends only here in Brazil, and only on big supermarket franchises. But they are kinda random and scarce, so you probably won't get a full free meal. Nothing compared to gift shops and markets on Japan (I've been there). Tasted lots of local stuff sold on gift shops there. Strangest one: sakura flower... soup? I though it was tea or something, but ended up being salty. o_O
Heh Tesco's do give samples sometimes, and its always some crummy cereal promotion or cheese. Morrison's (used to called Safeway) give out free sausage rolls at their pie shop, but only if your buying something.
It's like you said, the UK does not do such things which sucks... D:
I saw that in one episode of Crayon Shinchan. ^^ and always thought it was a joke. Nonetheless, it's really quite cool of Japanese restaurants and companies to have this kind of business practice, and I'm sure the customers will like it very much as well.
Yes you are right Danny, UK does not do this at all. It be nice if it did but the problem will be, "You can only try one...". ¬_¬; If I'm dead poor in Japan, I'll eat free food haha..
here, supermarkets give out free food but as free samples ^^
isn't that kinda embarassing? have food sample in our hyper market but u can't eat it all ;)
hmm, in Finland markets usually have one day, when they have free samples for customers. :) Usually there's a merchant introducing the product you're about to taste too
it'd be pretty odd if u take a whole bunge lol... its like take all of them thats left on the sampling for each section lol ... i think they'll be like piss off at u lol
Costco is the way to go!
Well, of course. In Spain, is very usual in shops and supermarkets. Especially in small shops on neighborhouds, you can see ham or cheese for customers to take for free. If the customers is close to the shop ownwer, is him, or her, that offers samples to customers, and even a little cup of vine :)!!!
There are a couple of places here that give free samples, usually in the corner of the store somewhere. There is one place called "Trader Joes", where they sample fresh soups and bread, apple pies and gelato, and so on. Its never good to shop on an empty stomach anyway.
Theres alot of sampling going on when ever I go shop for my good/food. I just ignore them because they always try to push you in buying something whenever you try to sample their foods =o
Samples...yeah...haha besides every time I cross to the US I go to Costco and fill Myself with free stuff ( Dont need to waste money on food) ^^
They give out free samples at the Publix near my house but they don't do it as often as they used to. Usually whenever I go to BJ's or Sam's Club they're giving out samples in every section of the store.
If you are a member at CostCo they usually always give out free food. Additionally, Marukai and Mitsue and some specialty markets do. It's good to know that if we need a quick snack we won't have to spend a small fortune!
to the poll: no, they don't serve good food Other place to go to Japan: lower leves of the shopping malls/hyakka-tens. I heard my mom say that you can eat dinner there for free, just by sampling food
@ Barsona free food but good food ^^" i suppose they have "free food" at fellow markets especially chinese ones it seems chinese super market are more common to have free taste than other europian/western super market
I used to love that in Japan. Some stores at Shibuya station used to have that as well, just before the subway entrance. Salty snacks, sweet breads, and even some sushi. Here in the US Cosco is well known for feeding visitors. Same thing, you can come out filled if you really want. Sometimes you even get a nice ice fro desert.
Aaronime, I would enjoy costco more is there were maids ^^; Eddie, There is a Tesco around the corner from my mums house ^^;
yea we have this all the time in big stores and special food stores. Indeed you can feed yourself. I even been to one where they gave you beer too LOl that was funny.
looks like someone mentioned costco already XD Some other supermarket chain have free samples as well, recent one I came across was handing out delicious waffles -- the lady cutting/handing them out was eating a bit (My friend told me)
Say Sir Danny, what was your initial cuisine like during your first months in Japan? I mean, did you learn how to cook the local cuisine, or did you guys eat out a lot, that sort of thing? And along that line, how are the other cuisines there? I would assume that there are restaurants that serve authentic and localized dishes from other countries (er, seen any Filipino restaurants there, eheh?)
The bottom of department stores are a great place for free food: ramen/noodles all sorts of meat gyouza yoghurt tons of snacks They have specials depending on the time of year, like milk and yoghurt from hokkaido.
One time I was in one of the department store in Ikebukuro. That was early in the morning, like 10:30am. That was the best time you can go to the basement of department store for free food!!! One of a "fish" place sell sashimi and stuff, it actually has someone cutting pieces and pieces of fresh tai behind the counter, people keep eating it, and they keep replenish with full plate of fish the whole time!!!! That was NICE! With wasabi and soy sauce provided! Since we're talking about free food, people sometime get pretty "aggressive".
Sorta reminds me of Costco...
yea or sometimes whole foods has free samples of stuff.. but didn't costco only have free samples during weekends or just sundays? i haven't been to costco in years so i don't remember :(
well in canada do this too
Well in Msia Tesco,Carefour...all does that.. that reminds me Caryon Shin Chan and his mom eating the sample food in supermarket till full....
In Australia, you get small samples of course, but not to the point its a self serve service. This free food reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer takes the kids to a supermarket and goes 'anything on a toothpick is free,' then they eat everything they possibly cant.
I dunno if I'd eat the free Sushi/Sashimi though...who knows how long it's been sitting out.
The local supermarkets will only occasionally have anything out to try and even then it's usually just a piece of some new flavored bread or something. Are you courageous enough to eat the free samples at the supermarket Danny? I wouldn't wanna try the sushi or sashimi.
Only free sampling i seen in SG was in Isetan when they have their mini food fest highlighting the specialty foods from various regions of Japan and in the supermarkets where there have promotions of new products
People only get to sample the food here... The people take care of the stalls...
There's often soup in Winter, stews are common as well. Senior citizens are charged next to nothing for food, if they decide to purchase foods that aren't marked 'free'.
Not free stuff here. With such a huge population, the supermarkets will have to spend more time replenishing the free stalls instead of the rest of the store. Indians are greedy - anything free and they start hording it.
You'll occasionally see free samples here, particularly on weekends, and especially at Costco. However, the sample stands are NEVER left unattended like that. There's always someone there, partioning the samples out into little paper cups and giving you a sales pitch. The odds of you being able to eat until you're full from samples alone are therefore pretty low. Still, this is totally good to know, since I want to go on an exchange trip to Japan in the near future. *evil grin*
