The Biggest Problem With State Fair Food, According To Andrew Zimmern

Andrew Zimmern is a man who's made a career out of being the opposite of a fussy eater. After all, he shot to stardom with a show called "Bizarre Foods," and we've seen him chowing down on such foods as tree grubs, fermented shark meat, cane toads, and horse rectum. Is there anything this man won't eat? Why yes, oddly enough he shies away from a few relatively common foods: walnuts, oatmeal, and raw cookie dough.

From this capsule bio, you'd think that in order for Zimmern to eat something, it has to be fairly unusual, right? Well, not necessarily. While he did manage to turn "adventure eater" into a job description of sorts, Zimmern says he actually has some regrets about the whole "bizarre" thing and says he wished he'd been able to focus more on exploring the foods of different cultures in a more respectful way rather than focusing on the gross-out factor. He is also, according to one of his latest tweets, not a big fan of food that's specifically created to be over the top. Yes, state (and county) fair foods, he's pointing right at you.

How can you not love state fair foods? After all, where else are you going to get deep-fried butter on a stick, Fruity Pebble-coated unicorn bacon on a stick, and fried beer? (This last-named item, oddly enough, is stick-free.) Zimmern's not too impressed. As he shared with his 1.2 million Twitter followers, "I would rather not eat a fruit taco deep fried inside a wild game pizza rolled in a flat bread baked in vegan cheese on a stick."

So does Zimmern just hate state fair food in general? No, not at all. His tweet was in response to an announcement that the Minnesota State Fair would be announcing its 2021 food lineup, and he went on to offer some suggestions as to what he would like to see, saying (or tweeting): "Keep it simple- Jucy Lucy booth? Whole hog BBQ? Fried Chicken? Local melon sherbet floats? Hmong sausage? Somali twice cooked goat?" and finished by saying "Can't wait btw!!" Zimmern then followed this up with a second tweet saying: "Here's the deal... I could list another 30 simple delicious foods that could be run through the fair food prism to be plussed up in a fun way," but added, "we don't need gimmicks." Hmmm, there's an idea — fair foods actually showcasing the best their state has to offer, rather than vying to see who can invent the weirdest stuff. Who knows, maybe it'll catch on some day.