Stick It Up Your...
...Catfish. Eggroll. Alligator. Fudgie. Bacon wrapped turkey tenderloin.
No, not filthy euphemisms. Something even better.
My friend Ray mentioned he's off to a neighborhood festival tonight, down New Orleans way. And it got me thinking about how much I love street fairs, or any fair or outdoor festival in general. I adore ever hokey, marvelous, lowbrow thing about them. The odd mix of people, the bizarre, cheap entertainment (pig races, anyone? face painting? test your strength?), the carnies, the rigged games, the strange crafts for sale, the smell of real kettle corn, the kids all wide eyed looking at everything and pointing at things and saying, "Pleeaaasseeee!" The adults smiling again like they did when they were kids at their first fairs. The lights of the rides at night. General goodwill and collective excitement in the air. The novelty of something different, waited for, in a boring year.
But, for all those joys that American fairs bring, there is one thing that makes them rock harder than any fair I've ever been to, anywhere else in the world. One joy that towers above the rest. One thing that makes me laugh with sheer delight and allow myself to have a moment of hope that perhaps American ingenuity and creative spirit is not dead after all. And that, my friends is the mother of all concepts: food on a stick.
Look at that. The beauty and madness of it. I defy you to find scotch egg on a stick anywhere else. Food on a stick is, quite simply, a divine gift from some totally debauched god.
And um, just as an aside...
Hey you...guy in the "orgy" shirt at 1:19--is that a Jurrasic Dog, or are you just really happy to see me?
(Come on, you know you watched all the way to the end to see him put his mouth around that, didn't you, you feelthy people?)
So. What's your favorite food on a stick? Or, the most bizarre food on a stick that you've ever tried?
Comments (3)
Other than things I've personally impaled (what?), i think the oddest stickfood I've ever had was something that claimed to be haggis on a stick.
It wasn't that haggisy though. Nor was it that odd.
Everything tastes better on a stick though. We all know that.
1. Posted by Elvis on April 13, 2007
Good grief, are there any foods not mentioned in that video? Ok, Haggis was one and Elvis mentioned that.
I once had a deep fried ramp on a stick! And if you don't know what a ramp is, which is shameful, you can read about 'em HERE I remember it being very good, although my breath stank for three days afterwards.
2. Posted by ArtfulDodger on April 13, 2007
I love grilled meat on a stick. Aside from kebabs here, in Asia, I had grilled squid on a stick; octopus on a stick; fishballs, octopusballs, mysterymeatballs on a stick; sticky rice dumplings on a stick; glazed dumplings on a stick...food on a stick sure is shpeshul.
I agree with you on festivals...that's one reason I love SE Asia so much. The markets and hawkers there are like permanent festivals.
3. Posted by Hiromi on April 14, 2007