A week or two ago the local newspaper sent out a reporter who asked people, “What’s your favorite thing at the county fair?” If I recollect right, every single one answered, “The food!”
You can smell a brass band of cooking aromas as soon as you enter the fairgrounds: grilled meats, sweet whatevers, popcorn, and fried anything. The fair guide listed a vendor called “Fried Everything” … and everything on the menu was, from twinkies to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I don’t know if this is the Fried Everything stand, but they definitely had a robust offering – and what they didn’t have you could find at other vendors just steps away.
There are lots of food choices at the fair. We kept our distance from the deep fryers, but that doesn’t mean we managed to stay entirely virtuous.
Kay, being virtuous has few, if any, rewards. Much to the amusement of my more “sophisticated” friends, I LOVE the fair. Only one has consented to join me in the past, and her body language reinforced the negative feelings about the whole experience. DH joins me but doesn’t care for much other than the Arts Bldg and the animals. I want to see everything. This year he has a bad back so he isn’t planning on going, and (ssh!!) I couldn’t be happier. I will be duly and dutifully disappointed about his absence.Now I can go on my own pace and visit all my favorites. Too old anymore for the Midway rides, but I love watching the kids. The vendor in your photo is probably very popular.
i usually do not really like the food smell at fairs and hardly ever eat anything there (while i like to eat!!), haha. i once had fried ice cream, that was quite interesting, but i wouldnt try fried twinkies etc…
as for the dutch ovens; the entire stove is so much smaller. i totally forgot that. its very frustrating as while cooking sometimes the pans just dont fit on the stove and you really have to arrange everything so and choose the sizes of your pots widely, or it wont fit….
I haven’t been to a state of county fair for years but you’re right, it was always about all the food. We have an arts and crafts show here once a year which offers much of the kinds of food shown in your photo. Heart attacks on a plate! Love the shot!
My favorite fair in state is the Common Ground Fair. Why I love it: no side shows, fried foods, games of chance… just aging hippies and what they bring to the table.
Oh the fair the fair – and the food. It is only once a year and so why not? Although my choices are limited by my preferences – I don’t think I’d have a deep fried twinkie, since I don’t even like twinkies, but I might give something else a try – or just stick to my favorite – ice cream from The Dairy Women!
There is so much to see at the fair – farm machinery bigger than some houses, Dutch pancakes, carnival rides to watch if you don’t care for riding, animals, arts and crafts, 4H displays of table settings (I think those are among my favorites), quilts, food everywhere, collections of all sorts – oh it is all so much fun!
I really can’t eat the fried stuff they sell at country fairs, but I still like to go just to see the animals and the humanity.
There are boats in your present and your future? That is one vice I have avoided. Don’t they say a boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money?