DALLAS (Reuters) - Welcome to the State Fair of Texas -- a magical land where calorie counters cower for cover and almost every conceivable food product can end up deep fried.
Fried potatoes and catfish are old hat to Texans at what is billed as the largest state fair in the United States. What they long for is a new offering for the vats of hot grease to go along with fair favorites such as fried pickles, fried okra, fried corn on the cob and fried cheesecake.
This year, 14 new food items were introduced to the fair and eight of them are fried. New to the fair, held in a land that is home to chicken fried steak, are items such as fried Oreo cookies, fried candy bars, and fried cheese curds.
"Honey, I would fry pretty much anything because that is what the people like," said Olivia Acuna, who works at a booth that sells fried Snickers bars.
The candy bar is dipped in a batter, fried for about 30 seconds and served hot on a plate that quickly becomes saturated in oil. A calorie count was not immediately available.
Ron Black, the fair's vice president for food service said people spend an estimated $15 million on food at the state fair. The fair opened last Friday and runs for three weeks. It typically attracts about 3.5 million people.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20030930/od_nm/odd_fried_dc
Fried potatoes and catfish are old hat to Texans at what is billed as the largest state fair in the United States. What they long for is a new offering for the vats of hot grease to go along with fair favorites such as fried pickles, fried okra, fried corn on the cob and fried cheesecake.
This year, 14 new food items were introduced to the fair and eight of them are fried. New to the fair, held in a land that is home to chicken fried steak, are items such as fried Oreo cookies, fried candy bars, and fried cheese curds.
"Honey, I would fry pretty much anything because that is what the people like," said Olivia Acuna, who works at a booth that sells fried Snickers bars.
The candy bar is dipped in a batter, fried for about 30 seconds and served hot on a plate that quickly becomes saturated in oil. A calorie count was not immediately available.
Ron Black, the fair's vice president for food service said people spend an estimated $15 million on food at the state fair. The fair opened last Friday and runs for three weeks. It typically attracts about 3.5 million people.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20030930/od_nm/odd_fried_dc
