What I'm Doing This Year at the State Fair

The number one question I got around State Fair time last year was, “Are you going to rank the new foods?”

My response to that was a quick, “Hell no.”

I am mostly drawn to the classic foods at the Minnesota State Fair, releasing a guide about this last year, and I’ll be re-releasing that guide on Sunday with a couple of updates. I still stand by this being the best way to navigate the fair for the average person. We’re so obsessed with trying every single new restaurant, new coffee shop, and new food at the fair that we often are leaving our favorite places behind. This isn’t how I live my life. I go back to the same places again and again, because I want to see them stand the test of time.

And yet… while I tried a few new foods at the fair last year, I found myself thinking, “Damn, if I had tried this on day one, maybe I could have steered you away from this viral AND VERY BAD snack that everyone else is recommending.” (Looking at you Uncrustaburger.) Throughout the fair, people kept asking me if I was going to release a list of new foods. It’s, to date, the thing people ask me about the most, with someone even asking me in the dead of winter.

I finally had to admit that the people want this list and so… this year, I’ve assembled a group of my friends to run around the fair and bring me the new foods while I crack open my laptop, pack multiple portable chargers, and rank (yes, rank) foods live from the fair. Instead of doing a “smash or pass” style list, I’m going to rank the new foods from my favorite to least favorite, because often the “get this” lists are so long, it’s hard to know where to begin.

There are benefits to having editors, like helping with direction and not having typos and having to tell you when you’ve lost your way. But there are also benefits to not having editors–and this is one of them. During the State Fair, I’ll be writing live on day one with no delay as I eat these foods with my foodie friends. So if you also go on day one, you’ll be able to see updates as I go.

This is going to be one of the most intense and expensive days of food writing that I do in a calendar year. There are 32 new foods, not including new vendors and drinks (which for this first piece, I won’t be eating), and I’m running all of this with a ragtag team of friends, not other writers (everyone say THANK YOU to Sophie, Isa, Kelsey, and Nayda). Plus, this isn’t my full-time job, and I’m literalllllyyyyyyyyyyy taking PTO to be able to do this. Thus, this piece will be behind a paywall. If you want to support your local indie critic in this wild endeavor, become a paid subscriber!

See you out there. 🫡