"fair food" news and stories

In many corners of the country it's fair-going time, and you know what that means: whiplash-inducing rides, cheap stuffed animal prizes, and oh yeah, food. Lots of food, mostly the kind you rarely let yourself indulge in -- cotton candy, for example, or (kill me now) fried dough. If you're going to schlep your way to the fairgrounds and bump elbows with everyone else in the county, you're going to want your yearly fix of the bad (but oh-so-good) stuff. So how are you going to find it in the crowds?

That's where the Food Finder comes in. The Ohio State Fair, anticipating a throng of hungry patrons, has created a mobile app that tells you exactly where to locate that Italian sausage or cheese on a stick you've been longing for. Many state fairs and amusements parks have put up websites detailing all the food options; Ohio's info can even be accessed right on your cellphone -- so while your kids are screaming on the Tilt-A-Whirl, you can scope out the nearest candy-apple cart.

Of course, the app does more than satisfy fair-going appetites -- it gives vendors a boost, too. Brian Shenkman, whose fried buckeyes were one of the hottest thing going at least year's fair, told Ohio's News 10 Team that he expects the new technology to help his business. "[W]e won't have the complaints that we had last year with people saying they can't find us," he said. "You'll find us now."

In other words, everyone wins -- except perhaps our waistlines. Deep-fried Snickers bar, anyone? Meet you at the Ferris wheel.

What's a fair without food? Residents of Broward County, Fla., are about to find out.

As the Broward County Fair doesn't have a fairgrounds of its own, it found itself homeless this year after its previous host, the Fort Lauderdale Stadium, closed for renovations. Scrambling for a solution, the fair relocated to a shopping mall.

"We'd rather have something than nothing at all," said the volunteer who answered the fair office's phone.

The Pompano Citi Centre has plenty of space for competitions and exhibits -- the spelling bee is scheduled for a room over LensCrafters, and student gardeners will display their plants at Lowe's -- but there's no room for rides or food vendors. According to the volunteer, who identified herself as Denise, the only food at the fair will be the canned beans, pound cakes and other edibles submitted for judging.

Bring some carnival midway magic home with do-it-yourself caramel corn.

It all started so innocently, didn't it? Some guy speared a hotdog with a stick, dipped it in corn batter, and deep-fried it into a corndog. Now at stat fairs across the country, a corndog is just so...boring. We've got everything from deep-fried cheesecake to Coca-Cola. Remember the winning food in the Texas State Fair food competition last year? A Coke flavored batter deep-fried and served with cola syrup! Dip anything in batter, throw it into hot oil, and you could have a prize-winning food.

And it seems that every year, it gets crazier. At the Texas State Fair, which doesn't even start until the end of September, there are seven entries into the food competition, some of which are reasonable given history, like the Fried Cookie Dough (one step before deep frying an actual cookie, like an Oreo), and others that are just weird, like Fried Guacamole Bites:

• Deep Fried Latte
• Fried Cookie Dough
• Fried Guacamole Bites
• Country Pride Peach Cobbler on a Stick
• Fernie's Fried Chili Frito Burrito
• B.W.'s Original Fried Banana Pudding
• Mama's Fried Sweet Potato Pie

Chili and Fritos wrapped inside a tortilla, fried, and served with cheese sauce? It's like people are trying their darnedest to make the most heart-stopping foods they can. Literally.

Is there anything people won't put on a stick and call it fair food? I do love the way the American food culture embraces impaling food prior to eating.

Personally, I've always been a fan of food on a stick. When I was 9 years old, I spent the summer in Hawaii with my aunt, uncle and cousins. In addition to teaching me about the wonders of Hawaiian cuisine (spam, white rice and some excellent banana pancakes), that summer was when I was first introduced to the fast food chain, Hot Dog on a Stick. I thought it was the height of entertainment to watch the girls in the ridiculously tall stripes hats create cornbread encased hot dogs and sticks of cheese. From that moment on, I was fascinated by foods that were served on a stick. To this day I enjoy corn dogs, kabobs, popsicles and skewers of any and all kinds. I do believe I need to visit the Minnesota State Fair!

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