slo’s MONDAY 7/17 poll - Fried Festival Food

[MamaMermaid]

Not many fairs/festivals around here but I do love a funnel cake!

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Don't go to many festivals. When we do, usually we get a funnel cake. One divided by 3 people.

 

[1420Elexismc]

I will eat almost anything fried at a fair/festival.
I tend not to go for the fried sweets though, mostly savory things
The Big E is a must for us every year...and usually the Berlin fair(we are in CT)

 

[leebee]

I'm more of a savory eater also. I love fried dough, but it has to be plain; no powdered sugar, no toppings. Sometimes I'll get fried veggies, although I'd rather have an ear of corn. My BIG favorite? Fried clams! I'm not sure how much of a "fair/festival" food this is in most places, but here in Maine I think there is almost always a clam stand. In fact, there are festivals every summer dedicated to just clams!

ETA: I miss going to the Big E; we are just too far away now.

 

[Micca]

Well the only festival I attend is the Epcot Food & Wine event and I don't think much of the fare offered is typical of state fairs. I do love french fries and onion rings. I sometimes consider a funnel cake near the American pavilion, but It's too much for me to eat alone.

Heads-up for corndog fans, the kiosk on the Boardwalk that used to sell pizza by the slice is switching over to hand-dipped corndogs.

 

[amcnj]

When I was young the main fried food I can think of at amusement parks and boardwalks was French fries. Later on funnel cakes became a big thing. Still later it seems they were trying to fry almost anything you could think of!

I do like zeppoles, but was spoiled at an early age by a pizzeria in the area that made the best ones I have ever had. I have tried them at various times at other places and have had decent ones, along with some pretty bad ones.

Fortunately that pizzeria is still going strong and when we were in the area, I introduced my children to those zeppoles. So now they have been spoiled too!

 

[RedAngie]

I love fairs and festivals but rarely eat those greasy fried treats. Maybe a churro once every 38 years.

 

[Minnesota!]

When we go to the state fair, my only "must have" is cheese on stick. Which isn't really fried, but...kind of?

 

[Minnesota!]

I’m from Wisconsin, so I enjoy cheese curds at festivals. I had some on Thursday!

Same, but Minnesota and had cheese curds yesterday I think it is a way of life around here, yes?

 

[Moliphino]

I don't go to any festivals/fairs. I actively avoid going anywhere near the Big E when it's on.

 

[tasha99]

I rarely go to festivals, but if I do and they have them, I never turn down a funnel cake with powdered sugar and lemon. The festival I do go to every year doesn't have much fried food, but my go-to is a meat pie and maybe aebelskiver.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

We go to our local festival in the summer to hear the bands, but I usually don’t eat the fair food. I don’t care for too many fried foods, except for fries . As a kid, my favorite fair food was red candy apples, which I don’t usually see anymore.

 

[tvguy]

The State Fair opened here on Friday and we're going Wednesday. I'll have to get back to you because apparently the food prices are obscene. $18 for a corn dog. $22 for a turkey leg. They can keep them at those prices.

 

[Kitty 34]

I love fairs and festivals but rarely eat those greasy fried treats. Maybe a churro once every 38 years.

So I'm guessing maybe, possibly you have eaten one and a half in your lifetime .

 

[design_mom]

I wasn't sure how to answer. We usually stick with the "fried dough" option at a fair (elephant ear or funnel cake usually). I do like other fried foods, but too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, so I usually limit myself to one. And I've never met a fried dough that I don't like!

(On this list, I would also eat onion rings, fried potatoes, mozzerella sticks, or corndogs... but I probably wouldn't get them if there's fried dough also offered. I do not have a big desire to try fried twinkies or oreos though.)

 

[Tink-osophy]

Mostly, I'm in the wrong country for this, but my first ever corn dog was at an open air event in Michigan years ago ---- and was delicious. I'd have that again!!! ...And I'd probably try some kind of fried dough deliciousness!

 

[AppleDumpling]

The most popular fare food here are zeppoles, served with powdered sugar in a paper bag. Some pizzerias sell them too.

This was my first thought. For the unfamiliar, they fall under the fried dough category. I absolutely love zeppole, especially still warm and fresh, but only indulge maybe once or twice a year. Incidentally, zeppole is plural (in Italian), zeppola is singular.

 

[mumto3girls]

I think I have sampled at least one in each of the categories at one time or another. I’m actually not a big fan of fried dough—more interested in fried cheese. We haven’t been to the county fair in many years (decades probably) but do go to local amusement parks with similar food.

 

[Babs Johnson]

Sure, I’ll try something fried at fairs, but I avoid them most other days.

The Minnesota State Fair is notorious for having the most unusual deep fried foods.

 

[kanne323]

I typically do not eat fried food at festivals or most restaurants. If they are frying any shellfish, I can't, unless they guarantee separate fryers (and most share fryers.) The only time I've had fried dough since I was a child (developed shellfish allergy as a teen) was at Farm Aid many years ago, when they were serving a multigrain fried dough with flax seeds, and not frying anything else.

A few people mentioned the Big E above, which was the big fair of my childhood (also had a few smaller local ones; I grew up about 25 minutes from the Big E grounds.) I don't think I've ever had anything fried there; I think I have always gone for the state-specific treats in the state buildings and not the more typical fair food outside. Why is it that a baked potato from the Maine building feels like such a treat even though I grew up in a potato family?!? My regular, smaller fair food was always a snow cone as a kid.

The town I currently live in is like a fair every night and all weekend during the summer, with rides and fried food stands. There's one stand that just sells fries, so I can eat those (and they're really good, so I try to stay away.)