Midsummer is peak state and local fair season, and this year promises to continue the expansion of fried, stuffed and glazed food choices at stalls and food courts.
Will this summer’s spicy or sweet new state fair concoctions become the next Hotdog on a Stick (a fair staple that was born on the beach in Santa Monica, California)?
Here’s a look at some of this year’s offerings.
Hot Cheetos Nachos
Consider Hot Cheetos Nachos, each element representing a doubling up of flavor — an item that’s hot where there’s already nacho heat, crunchy where nachos already define crispy and cheesy without the help of Cheetos.
The snack is available at the California State Fair in Sacramento through the end of July.
The American state fair started in 1841 in Syracuse, New York, as a uniquely American showcase of newfound abundance, ingenuity and muscle.
International fairs were the rage at the dawn of the 1900s, when farm bounty met industrialization and new standards of food preparation, accelerating fair food as a product not only of the land, but also of American innovation.
The tradition continues 120 years later, fed by a new world of influences from Latin America, Asia and beyond.
Pizza Lumpia
At the two-week Wisconsin State Fair, which starts Aug. 3, the novelty and largesse of food offerings are among the attractions. The fair just outside Milwaukee will showcase 104 food items unknown to its grounds just a year ago. They include Pizza Lumpia, a massive version of the Filipino spring roll filled and topped with tomato-based sauce, cheese, pepperoni and more.
The fair’s sliced sweet apple pie fries — apple sticks wrapped in flaky pie crust and adorned with glaze — are wholesome-sounding items that nonetheless appear able to slay any sweet tooth.
Iowa Twinkie
The Iowa State Fair, which starts Aug. 10 in Des Moines, teases only 64 new food offerings this year, but some of them may make up for that with heat and meat and something sweet.
The Iowa Twinkie is no confection. It’s a jalapeño stuffed with pulled pork, corn and cream cheese and wrapped with bacon, according to Axios’ Linh Ta, who was a judge of the top 10 new food items at the fair (it was named among the top three). This Twinkie is wrapped in bacon and topped with barbecue sauce.
July 26, 202301:51
Donut Burger
The Alaska State Fair in Palmer, 43 miles northeast of Anchorage, offers an anchor for your belly, a Donut Burger of ground beef, cheese and bacon, placed between two glazed donuts.
The fair starts Aug. 18.
Fried Texas BBQ Shotgun Shells
If you could put Texas on a plate, it might be fajitas. But then there’s this, a Big Tex Food Choice Awards semifinalist at the State Fair of Texas: Fried Texas BBQ Shotgun Shells.
It’s a kitchen sink of an item that nonetheless sounds kind of tasty: Texas barbecue beef brisket, Velveeta and cream cheese are seasoned with Meat Church Texas Sugar Rub seasoning, rolled in a pasta sheet, wrapped in hickory smoked bacon, rolled anew in jalapeño breadcrumbs and, yes, fried. Then it’s served on a stick.
The fair starts Sept. 29 in Dallas.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
