I never knew you could fry butter, Pepsi, Oreos, Peanut Butter Cups, Twinkies, Snickers, brownies, or cookie dough until I attended my first state fair in Indianapolis, Indiana. We went with our daughter and small grandkids in August, 2010. The amusements were fun and the kids liked the animals and riding the ponies. But that food! I never knew everything imaginable could be fried. Until we went, I felt I had been deprived of this experience as a child and had in turn deprived my own kids. I guess missing out on deep fried butter wasn’t such a bad thing.
Not totally thrilled
Grilled cheese was the healthiest option there
Riding a pony was fun
How do you fry Pepsi?
But that food! I never knew everything imaginable could be fried.
RetroFlash — 100 words
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Laurie LevyBoomer. Educator. Advocate. Eclectic topics: grandkids, special needs, values, aging, loss, & whatever. Author: Terribly Strange and Wonderfully Real.
The pictures are wonderful!! I think there is an informal competition in the “what is the most outrageous thing that can be fried?” at some fairs,. But do you suppose they give ribbons for that too?
They probably do. I have to admit that being in Indiana, I suspect they had more fried items than more blue states. I’m still wondering how to make deep friend butter.
It looks like the kids are having a ball, Laurie, but I’m with you about the food. I’ll skip the deep-fried stuff. Great Flash!
Thanks, Betsy. The kids were really little so everything was a wonder to them. That’s a fun age. And I refused to buy them deep fried anything.
Ay ay ay, I’ve seen deep fried, but never Pepsi or butter. Hear that fried ice cream is good, too. Time to take a Tums, Laurie.
Even back then, Marian, I don’t think I could have handled that food!
Great RetroFlash, and adorable pictures, Laurie. I have a picture of “Deep Fried Everything” in my story too. I think we tried deep fried Coke one year, and it wasn’t that great. I thought it would be liquid in the center, but it was just Coke-flavored dough. Mostly we eat the healthier fair food, like shark tacos.
No way would I ever let one of my grandkids eat anything from those stands. But there were plenty of people doing it.
OMG, who knew indeed!
(And BTW your grandkids are adorable!)
Thanks, Dana. Now that little girl on the pony is a 14-year-old vegan. Glad I didn’t put any of that junk in her body.
Laurie, brava to the kid, from what I’ve read. we all should be vegans!
In fact about a dozen years ago I heard a lecture by a vegan nutritionist and went up to her afterwards and made an appointment for a nutrition session.
Then I did try it for a few weeks but couldn’t swallow the green shakes she advocated, and I never could figure out what to eat for breakfast!
So now I just try to skip the red meat and the donuts!!
You and me both, Dana!
Yes, Laurie, these deep fried “treats” — or anything with bacon added — seem to be featured at many state fairs. I even alluded to them in my RetroFlash. I have avoided them, but friends have told me that most of them are as yummy as they are bad for you.
Maybe fried ice cream? But butter, Pepsi, or candy bars — just no!
A wonderful Retroflash about a wonderfully awful phenomenon IMO. I have never observed the breadth of the fried menu that you describe in indiana. Makes me wonder whether whoever launched it might have had a little brother “Mikey”. Let’s see if Mikey will eat THIS!
Maybe Mikey would have tried it but, despite having a sweet tooth, I had to take a hard pass
Wow, Laurie. You went to MY state fair! (I grew up in Indianapolis and it was a big deal to go AT LEAST ONCE each year.) As to the food, nothing for me compared to the lemon shakeups–way better than any so-called lemonade you could buy anywhere else.
How did we miss the lemon-shakeups? It was my first (and last) state fair, and it was quite a culture shock for me.