Ok, I warned you that I had one more Illiois State Fair post to go along with my State Fair recap post, and now here it is.
When I was a lad growing up in Springfield, my family would go to the Illinois State Fair every year. My dad would usually drag us to a particular building that displayed lots of different foods that had been submitted for judging. Farmers would submit fruits and vegetables, people would bake pies and cakes, breads, etc. You would submit your food, it would be judged, and if you won your category I’m guessing you would get some sort of monetary prize.
Now, the fair runs 8 or 9 days. The food goes up for display in a building at the start of the fair, and stays there until the fair is over. My dad would prefer going the second weekend of the fair, when all the cakes, vegetables, etc., were in less than stellar condition. To put it bluntly, the food was rotting. This is just his sense of humor, which for the most part was passed down to me intact.
Now, in my childhood this building was not air-conditioned. If it was 90 degrees outside, it was pretty much the same temperature in the building. These days the building is air-conditioned, but still the ravages of time work their magic over the week that the food sits out.
I took pictures the first weekend of the fair, and asked my brother (who is down there this weekend) to take some pictures the second weekend.
Here are the results. Enjoy!
Carrots and Lettuce, before:
And after. Note the carrots are somewhat dessicated, the lettuce mottled.
Peppers before
Peppers after
Eggplants before
Eggplants after
Barbecue Bites before
And after
Pies before
After
Alien cake before
And after (no change)
Apparently after I left the fair, they had some sort of Spam cooking contest. Here are some of the entries. I’m assuming that they looked more appetizing when first displayed, though I can’t verify this.
Spam Something
More Spam
One last picture of a delectable Illinois State Fair entry. Who wants dip?
Thanks again to my brother for braving the putrid stench of rotten food to get these lovely pictures.
I can’t think of a single food where my heart doesn’t drop when I hear it’s been made with “Soy”. “Soya Dip”? I’d just as soon eat “Ass Dip”
mmmmmmm…mystery spam
With all due respect to the honorable bubs, isn’t it by its very nature “mystery spam”?
That alien cake must have really been alien to not only withstand the heat, but also not get eaten. Maybe it was made from moon rock. Or SPAM.
You can’t have spam, spam, eggs and spam without the mystery dip, Ole!
Wow. My favorite is the cake that did not change. Thanks good ness we have preservatives like that to keep our food looking good long after it’s made.
anandamide, I figured you for a Boca Burger fan.
bubs and jess, I think my favorite rendition of Mystery Spam was by Elvis.
flannery a & dr mvm, to be fair, there were many foods besides the alien cake that didn’t age. Onions, squash, etc.
kristi, Sí, es verdad.
alien cake! and you didnt send me any? hehehehehe
when you make holes in the heat shield of the shuttle — well that is how you bake an alien cake
also
Our state fair is a great state fair,
Don’t miss it, don’t even be late.
It’s dollars to donuts
That our state fair
Is the best state fair in our state.
it was one of those movies that was shown 55,000x in camp
dc, a slice of the alien cake is winding its way to you via the US Postal System.
I’ve never heard that State Fair song. If it was being played, I couldn’t hear it, as my ears were full of head sweat.