The Arkansas State Fair is here and, as usual, brings the best of Arkansas right to our front door, including a commercial wine competition, livestock shows, petting zoos, a gator show (watch as the Swampmaster catches an 8-foot, 200-pound alligator with his bare hands!), a Gold Metal Flour cookie contest, a fairy queen pageant, a junior fairy queen pageant, an Arkansas Farm Bureau rice-cooking contest, a Petit Jean Meats cooking contest, a military appreciation day, a pie competition, and a BBQ competition – to name just a few.

Which brings me to my article for this week: fair food. One of the reasons (other than all of the ones above) I love to go to the fair is because of the food, including the cotton candy.

I can come home all tired, pooped, worn out and all other kinds of exhausted, but I’m a happy camper if I’ve had some of the food and a lot of cotton candy.

So, here’s a sampling of what there is to eat, but fair warning (no pun intended): this food fare is not for the weak-stomached!

Deep-fried favorites such as avocados, Klondike Bars, Pop Tarts, pickles, turkey legs and Pronto Pups still reign.

Then there are a few newer items from last year that are being served-up: Pig Lickers (chocolate-dipped bacon), chicken and waffles on a stick, and apple pie funnel cake a la mode (oh my gosh – three of my very favorite things all tossed into one amazing concoction of deep-fried fat).

If you get the works on the apple pie funnel cake a la mode, it includes peanuts, caramel, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a cherry.

Is your mouth watering yet? Well, I’m not done! There’s fried Jell-O. Yep. This is funnel cake batter mixed with cherry Jell-O that’s deep-fried and drizzled with icing.

There’s also fried pineapple upside down cake on a stick, which is chunks of pineapple dunked in pineapple cake batter and then deep-fried and served with brown sugar and a cherry. Want a different spin on s’mores?

Try this: Deep fried Pop Tart S’mores a la mode – this is a Pop Tart S’mores that’s toasted, battered, deep-fried, and served with a scoop of ice cream drizzled with chocolate syrup.

Moving on, we can’t leave out the chocolate-covered Twinkies or the fried banana split. This fried concoction consists of a frozen banana dipped in funnel cake batter and deep fried, then served alongside a few scoops of ice cream, a few syrups, whipped cream, and a cherry on top.

Well, that pretty much takes care of the desserts (which you always eat first, right?), so here are a few of the foods that might not be healthier, but they are vegetables:

First up are hot buttered corn and sweet potatoes, with a variety of spices to shake on if you’re so inclined. Then there are deep-fried avocados (recipe at right), Hog Logs (pork steak battered, deep-fried, and served on a stick – in true Arkansas form), and deep-fried cream cheese filled sausage balls.

Another newcomer from last year you’ll see again this year is the fry bread taco. This item features a round of fried bread layered with chili, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese, and salsa. This might be one of the healthier items on the menu, unlike the Krispy Kreme bacon cheeseburger.

If you won’t be making it to the fair this year, you can still have a taste of one of the foods served there because I have a recipe for you – the delicious Avocado Fries. They’re wonderful. You can also bake these instead of frying them for a healthier alternative.

Hint: the avocado doesn’t get as mushy when frying if you freeze the slices first.