State Fair of Texas® aka Fried Food Capital of Texas

[El Supremo]

Since the invention of the Fletcher's Corny Dog, fairgoers have often ranked food as one of the top reasons for attending the annual State Fair of Texas. In 2005, Fair organizers - determined to take the association with food to a new level - organized the first annual Big Tex Choice Awards contest.

The contest is considered a friendly food fight among Fair concessionaires. Entries must be new to the Fair, unique and taste-tempting. In mid-summer, an invitation is sent to all contracted State Fair vendors with details about the contest. Interested concessionaires submit menus to a committee for review and consideration. Often the committee will request samples for taste testing before choosing the finalists for the contest. On Labor Day, a panel of judges is on hand when the kitchen heats up for the final round of competition. Awards are presented in two categories - best taste and most creative. The competition is held prior to the opening of the Fair each year and is not open to the general public.

2005 Most Creative - Viva Las Vegas Fried Ice Cream
2005 Best Taste - Fried PB, Jelly and Banana Sandwich
2006 Most Creative - Fried Coke
2006 Best Taste - Fried Praline Perfection
2007 Most Creative - Deep Fried Latte
2007 Best Taste - Texas Fried Cookie Dough
2008 Most Creative - Fried Banana Split
2008 Best Taste - Chicken Fried Bacon
2009 Most Creative - Deep Fried Butter
2009 Best Taste - Fernie's Deep Fried Peaches & Cream


http://www.bigtex.com/foodlocator/

[virgogal]

1. 2005 most creative? I was eating fried ice cream here in MA 25

years ago.

It was delicious.

[Flying Dream Blues]

2. I'm pretty sure there were fried oreos one year...rumor has it, anyway.

[endless october]

3. fried butter?

yikes. that doesn't even sound good.

if i'm going to consume that kind of calories, make mine a nice cheeseburger and fries.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

4. remind me to avoid Dallas for a while.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

5. Chicken Fried Bacon?

That sounds like one of the most delicious meals ever concocted. You can't go wrong with meat wrapped in meat and fried in meat oil.

[Why Syzygy]

6. lol

"Chicken fried" means a flour/egg batter.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

8. I know, I was being facetious

It actually sounds like one of the worst meals ever prepared. I don't like bacon much as it is (unless I'm eating filet mignon).

Those Texans are seriously nuts. I'd be interested to see the statistics on heart disease in Texas. I'd be willing to bet my last dollar that it's a lot higher than the national average.

[Why Syzygy]

9. "Those Texans"?

We take pride in being "seriously nuts".

Too bad you're wrong about the statistics. Texas rates #15. Keep yer dollar.

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hea_hea_dis_dea_rat_per_100-death-rate-per-100-000

Of course heart disease has many contributing factors. My granddad used to eat beef fat (gross). He died of prostate cancer.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

10. National Average: 233; Texas: 252

It technically is above the national average, but not by much.

I'm sickened by some of the things my grandparents still eat (they're all in their 90's), but people that age tend to do things in moderation while us younger folk overdo almost everything we do, including in our dietary choices.

Sorry about the "Those Texans" remarks - I didn't realize you were from Texas. Still, there's a lot of crazy Texans - I see the voting patterns there.

[Why Syzygy]

11. I told you

we take pride in being nuts. Seriously.

You said "a lot higher". Mississippi (#1) has fried pickles! Now that's an eeewwweee.

btw, Texas is returning to our native Blue. Either that or we'll go Libertarian or possibly Green, like Arkansas.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

12. I live in Idaho and we take pride in being a little nuts, too

Fer' cryin' out loud, we have a blue football field. That's probably the only blue thing about the state, though. It's mostly rapid right wingers who control our state.

I would LOVE to see Texas go blue! If the R's there continue to send idiots like Helmet-Head to the governor's mansion, eventually the people will wake up and realize how bad the republican party really is.

[grasswire]

7. deep fried latte?

I'm scratching my head at that one.