What's a fair without food? Residents of Broward County, Fla., are about to find out.
As the Broward County Fair doesn't have a fairgrounds of its own, it found itself homeless this year after its previous host, the Fort Lauderdale Stadium, closed for renovations. Scrambling for a solution, the fair relocated to a shopping mall.
"We'd rather have something than nothing at all," said the volunteer who answered the fair office's phone.
The Pompano Citi Centre has plenty of space for competitions and exhibits -- the spelling bee is scheduled for a room over LensCrafters, and student gardeners will display their plants at Lowe's -- but there's no room for rides or food vendors. According to the volunteer, who identified herself as Denise, the only food at the fair will be the canned beans, pound cakes and other edibles submitted for judging.
The declining prestige of Frenchified cuisine has done little to dent the global appetite for frog legs, much to the consternation of conservationists who say the industry could soon eradicate certain species of the slippery amphibian.
A Swiss animal rights group this week called upon gourmands to boycott frog legs, comparing harvesting a frog for its thighs to killing an elephant for its tusks. But the University of Adelaide's Corey Bradshaw says the world's consumption of more than 1 billion frogs a year isn't just wasteful: It's threatening many frogs' futures.
"Just like fish, they're being unsustainably harvested," Bradshaw says. At most restaurants, he adds, "they'll be just skinned legs. They'll not be able to tell you what species they are."
That's a problem, Bradshaw adds, because nearly one half of frog species are facing extinction. Even Rayne, La., which is the world's Frog Capital, is forced to import the amphibians from China.
The nation's only Giant Omelette Celebration will mark its 25th anniversary this weekend by adding one more egg to its 12-foot skillet.
The town of Abbeville, La., in 1984, joined the confederation of seven cities from Argentina to Belgium that annually commemorates Napoleon's order for a tiny town in southern France to produce an army-sized omelette. Bessieres upheld the tradition long after Napoleon's troops had gone, cooking oversized omelettes at Easter to feed the poor. The practice has thrived in places where locals fret about losing touch with their Francophone heritage.
But that doesn't mean the Abbeville cooks are entirely faithful to the recipe favored by Monsieur Bonaparte: Festival president Gordy Landry reports, "we add a Cajun flair."
"Most of the other giant omelettes are a little bit plainer and not quite so tasty," he continues. "In France, they just stick to the eggs. In Canada, they add some ham. But the only place that puts crawfish in is us."
Jacques Torres chocolates at Chocolate Show New York. Photo: Sara Bonisteel.
You'd think that with the nation's focus on turkey, cranberry sauce and the subsequent holiday season, November food festivals would be few and far from interesting. Not so -- from warm-ups to warm climes, check out our roundup of remarkable November fȇtes.
Chocolate Show New York, New York, Oct. 30-Nov. 1: A brief event straddling two months, these three decadent days include book signings, cooking demos and tastings, from chocolate experts such as Jacques Torres' -- he's pairing Puerto Rican rum and chocolate -- as well as party ideas.
Chocolate Festival of Texas and Texas Wines, Houston, Tex., Nov. 6-7: Not to be out-gunned by the Yanks, the Lone Star State is holding its own celebration for chocoholics, and this one includes oenophiles, who get a souvenir wine glass.
Port Barre Cracklin Festival, Port Barre, La., Nov. 12-15: You read right -- fat back is on offer! The perfect way to pad up for winter hibernation. There will be a fair pageant, rides, live entertainment and the obligatory cook-off.
Watching the eating contestants devour bowls of dumplings at painful speeds -- and even, in some cases, to messy, unfortunate results -- did nothing to quell the appetites of visitors sampling dumplings from around the world at the sixth annual NYC Dumpling Fest. The fest paid tribute to the global bundle Saturday in a event featuring a competitive eating contest, a dumpling how-to class, author appearances and food stands serving edible representations from around the world.
The Lower East Side function supported the Food Bank for New York City with sales of the usual Asian dumplings and a smattering of dumpling cousins: Polish pierogi, Chinese bao, Italian gnocchi, Mexican tamales, Asian pot stickers, Malaysian kuih koci, Indian idli and Filipino palitawa.
Chefs Wai Hon Chu (co-author of "The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide") and Jaden Hair (author of "The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook: 101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough for Tonight's Dinner) did book signings, but the obvious highlight of the event was the eating contest.
Forty contestants, largely male, of all shapes and sizes showed up to voraciously dive into bowls of whole-wheat dumplings at varying speeds. Judged by a panel including city councilman John Liu -- who quipped about the dumpling, "All those ingredients in one little package, what more could you ask for!" -- the gustatory athletes were an amusingly motley bunch.
One of the nation's largest pumpkin festivals, the Circleville Pumpkin Show, gets underway this week in Circleville, Ohio.
The show opened Wednesday for its 106th year and runs for four days with more than a hundred pumpkin varietals, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
The pumpkin varieties have been expanding every year," Kurt Engle, manager of the show's pumpkin sales, told the paper. "But most of what's sold are used for decorating."
The hottest dispute at this weekend's Boudin Cookoff in Lafayette, La. may not be who makes the best boudin, but whether the signature Cajun sausage should be eaten with its casing.
"For some people, the way they eat boudin is to bite off the first bite and squeeze out the filling the rest of the way," explains event organizer Bob Carriker, who created the web site The Boudin Link to chronicle his ardor for the spicy, rice-y, pork-based snack. "And some people like to eat the casing as they go."
Carriker polled attendees at last year's cookoff, the first edition of the festival, and discovered the crowd was almost evenly split: Discarding the casing was favored by 117 voters, while 86 boudin fans claimed they liked their casing on.
"This is a raging debate in South Louisiana," Carriker says. "Health care, schmealth care."
As Carriker's lingo suggests, he's not a Louisiana native. He moved there from Washington for a job, and immediately set about acquainting himself with the state's cuisine.
Chicken bog is a seasoned chicken, rice and sausage dish that's not half as soupy as its name suggests. What chicken bog isn't -- at least according to the organizers behind the 30th annual Loris Bog-Off being held this weekend in Horry County, S.C. -- is pilau.
Samantha Norris, executive assistant to the Chamber of Commerce's board of directors, maintains that bog is distinct from the beloved African-tinged casserole served one county over, also known as pilau, perloo, pilaf and perlau.
"Some people tell me bog is wetter, some people tell me there's more chicken in bog," Norris says.
Food historians don't necessarily agree: In her book "The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection," Karen Hess posits that bog is really just pilau made on a massive scale. "It is difficult to make very large amounts of a proper pilau, so it ends up being 'boggy,'" she writes.
Acknowledging that even motivated eaters are struggling to complete their fried food checklists during a single visit to the fair, an increasing number of state fairs are now offering free lunch passes to stimulate more sampling.
Arkansas this week joined Missouri and Memphis's Mid-South Fair in pushing a program that re-imagines the midway as a vast office cafeteria, with chocolate-dipped fried bacon and hot beef sundaes standing in for grilled cheese sandwiches and Jello salad. Arkansas State Fair spokesman Ralph Eubanks said "Lunch at the Fair," featuring free parking and admission on weekdays from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m, was created in response to clamorous customer demand.
"We've had several requests and we decided to try it," Eubanks says. "We're making it logistically possible to provide workers with a quick corn dog."
Eubanks concedes most folks who punch out for a quick trip to the fair are unlikely to stick to what he calls "the old standbys": There are 30 new items available at the fair this year, including a taco in a bag and chicken parmesan on a stick. "We just kind of hit the jackpot," Eubanks marvels.
Friday night's Blue Moon Burger Bash hosted by Food Network star-turned-one woman empire, Rachael Ray, heated the festival up. Where there weren't burgers, the Food Network and food world entourage filled in.
A brief roll call included: the aforementioned Rachael Ray, Tyler Florence, Bobby Flay, Guy Fieri, Ann Burrell, Art Smith, Jacques Torres, Rocco DiSpirito, Martha Stewart, Duff Goldman, Katie Lee (last year's Burger Bash champion), Ellie Krieger, Giada De Laurentiis...
New York's top eateries, including Minetta Tavern, Shake Shack, The Spotted Pig and Wollensky's, fired up their grills so they could claim the judges' favorite and the People's Choice Award. Check out our festival photos and more after the jump!
Anthony Bourdain.
Photo: New York City
Wine & Food Festival.
When we got our hands on a coveted ticket to the Frank Bruni/Anthony Bourdain TimesTalks event, we were psyched to attend. What could be more fun than witnessing the outgoing New York Times restaurant critic participating in a culinary spar with the preeminent enfant terrible of the chef world?
Not surprisingly, Bourdain is a natural and answered practically every Bruni question with a clever, brutally honest quip. Bruni began by inquiring about one of the more unusual things he had seen Bourdain eat on his Travel Channel show, "No Reservations." The delicacy in question was a warthog's rectum. After firing off a few expletives, Bourdain admitted that while he was eating the warthog delicacy, he knew he was "in trouble," adding he humbly tries to eat everything that people around the globe offer him.
"Where we're going is based on directors we like and want to dupe," Bourdain said of the show. "We want to make something along the lines of films we admire." Of course, he capped the exchange off with a self-mocking, "But, it's all about me in the end."
Dr. Mehmet Oz and Rachael Ray. Photo: Jennifer Lawinski
Even presidents know it's hard to get kids to eat their vegetables.
Former President Bill Clinton told parents a gymnasium full of parents in Harlem Saturday that he shared their struggles with finding and committing to healthy eating. Getting kids to eat fruits and vegetables is hard, he said. "Especially in Harlem, where I can say we have a lot of other options and they all taste good."
The talk was part of the the New York City Wine and Food Festival's Weight Watcher's Fun and Fit in the City event, targeted at combating childhood obesity and promoting healthy eating for the city's kids. The ex-president's foundation is headquartered in Harlem, and its top priority in the U.S. is the fight against childhood obesity.
Sandra rolls in Elvis style. Photo: Sara Bonisteel
Bacon and Sandra Lee took center stage Thursday for the kickoff of the New York City Wine and Food Festival in Manhattan.
Lee held court in Chelsea Market (home of festival sponsor, the Food Network), where a ginormous "Sandra Lee" sign heralded exactly where everyone's favorite semi-homemade host was holding court, signing copies of her latest book "Cocktail Time."
At the Standard Hotel, those lucky enough to get into Tyler Florence's "Bacon and the Blues" event found bacon gratin, chocolate covered bacon, pulled pork and great steamed slabs of bacon all for the taking. Check out our photos from the scene after the jump.
Tommy Lanigan pulls potatoes from a cast-iron kettle of liquefied rosin. Photo: Carol W. Waters.
There was a hotly contested cakewalk, a patriotic parade and a beauty pageant featuring girls of nine different age divisions at last weekend's annual celebration of turpentine in Portal, Ga. -- all the festival was missing was the substance celebrated.
"We weren't able to find any tar," explains Jerry Lanigan, vice president of the Portal Heritage Society.
Without pine tar, festival organizers can't make turpentine in the town's still, which until this year was the nation's only continuously operating turpentine cooker. And without turpentine, there's no rosin, which is the fancy name for the vapors that rise from heated tar. And without rosin, there aren't any rosin potatoes, a staunchly vernacular folk dish that was developed in the 1930s by workers at Portal's turpentine plant.
"Everybody loves them," Lanigan says of the potatoes, which bake in a pool of melted rosin. "We have people who try them and say 'I don't know why I haven't tried them before.' It's one of the old arts."
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