Mention the name “Costco” and people work themselves up into a frenzy. Some people will start waving their arms around, shouting, “The chicken! The chicken!” Others will shout, “The hot dogs! The hot dogs!” And even entire countries go wild over Costco.
As I’ve mentioned previously, we still do not have a Costco membership and, pandemic-wise, stepping foot into what seems like a Black Friday simulation every single day makes me, at the moment, feel like I’m not missing out on anything (though I thank you for offering to take me, all you kind friends, family, and commenters). I have a theory that I came up with just now: the practice of finding interesting items at Costco and posting them to social media is like “grocery shopping mukbang.”
Mukbang refers to the weirdly compelling Korean streaming video sessions where you simply watch someone eat a large quantity of food. Seeing photos of all the cool things you can buy at Costco seems to scratch that itch in the same way. It’s like living vicariously through other people’s enjoyment. In the most recent installment of Costco mukbang, which is indeed about food, it’s looking like a fan favorite is returning to Costco: the tray of 12 pull-apart cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, as noted by parenting blog SheKnows and posted on Instagram by @costcobuys.
The commenters have a lot to say about Costco cinnamon rolls. “These should be illegal they are so good!” says one. “It is bliss,” confirms another. “Not gonna lie, I ate 4 of them before I even told the fam that they were ready,” confesses one Instagram user. Lots of people tagged their friends in the comments with messages like, “It’s BACK!”
I mean, that looks like at least two pounds of food all in one container, for $6.99. Good times for everyone involved. Who doesn’t love cinnamon rolls (and a large quantity of them at that)? Perhaps it’s time for my first tattoo. It’ll say, “Live, laugh, Costco.”