Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Wrap Up

This year I was fortunate enough to return to the CNE. It's the first time I've been to the CNE two years in a row for a long time, and from a snacking perspective I felt a different vibe. Last year when I attended everyone wanted the next crazy food. Deep fried pizza, mustard flavoured ice cream and even a cookie flavoured hamburger. There were tones of crazy foods for sale and huge lineups for each and every one of them.

This year there were a few more crazy treats and snacks, but the lineups for these foods weren't nearly as long as last year. I would even venture to say that there were more crazy food stalls available, but not nearly as many people going to them. Now I don't have the hard numbers to prove that, only the fact that I walked by a few of these stalls and they were empty. I'm not sure what's causing this change, it could be the high prices of these odd foods, or it could be a nostalgia for the classics.

I say this because the lineups for many of the classic CNE foods were really long. I've never waiting for a waffle ice cream sandwich before, but this year it was pretty packed. It's odd too, but I also lost a bit of drive to sample all of the new and weird foods this year, and really craved some of the classics. So here's a quick look at everything I ate.

Ironically I started my day with something that's a little odd, but not that crazy. It was a plate of tater tots covered in mac and cheese and then covered in cheese sauce. It's a little extreme (particularly for your first meal) but it's not that crazy. It was also pretty tasty.

Next we went for some Tiny Tom donuts. 

These have been a staple at the CNE for years. It used to be the only place you could get them, but I see them around a lot more now a days. We thought cinnamon sugar was the way to go.

Our next treat is not only a CNE classic, but I'm pretty sure every county fair and festival has corn dogs. A little mustard makes it just a bit better.

The next treat we got was the classic CNE waffle ice cream sandwich. It's something we rarely miss, even when we go with the weird foods.

I particularly liked their system of selling them. You go to the cashier and buy an ice cream sandwich coin. Then you line up for your fresh (and slightly warm) sandwich. It keeps the line moving and the coin's kind of fun as well. It's too bad you have to put your coin in a hole to get your ice cream sandwich, because I'd love to have it as a souvenir.

My last meal was also a little extreme, but once again not so gross out weird. It's pulled pork on fries with all the fixin's. 

Junk Fud and You - What I look for in a Candy - Novelty

 Ever wonder why I give a particular score to some candies? How does novelty affect my reviews? I decided to break down my criteria for novelty when I review treats.

Blue Orchid Fun!

Did you know I’m currently writing and drawing my own comic series?

Blue Orchid is a fun adventure about a teenage South East Asian girl who battles incredible monsters and faces the challenges of a world unlike anything she has ever known.

You can pick up every issue now at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/ or on Amazon.

Purple Is Awesome

 

I don't think I've ever been disappointed with a purple coloured treat. It's not to say that I've loved every single purple snack I've ever eaten, I just find that most purple snacks either taste great, or at the very least are very interesting. I'm not sure I've ever had an amazing flavoured, really interesting purple treat, but generally you're likely to get one or the other. Maybe one day I will get the perfect purple treat, but for now I'm just happy when they're either interesting or really tasty.

Check out my latest interesting purple review.

Snack Facts Is Here!

Ever wondered where your favourite snacks came from?

Snack Facts is a fun comic that follows Barbara and Sir Francis Sweetums as they uncover the surprising history behind some of the world's most popular treats.

Grab your copy at candycritic.org/snackfacts/ or on Amazon.

Purple Isn't Always Grape

When I was kid, if you handed me a purple potato chip I would have assumed that it was grape. I don't think there were many purple coloured treats in the world that weren't grape. I'm not sure if times have changed, or if I've just seen more of the world, but I'm seeing more and more purple in the snacking and treat world all the time. Probably the most popular purple flavour that's out right now is ube, a popular flavour that I believe came from the Philippines. But Japan also has some pretty impressive purple potato treats too.

Check out my latest purple potato treat review, this one's from Japan.

Candy Technology We Never Think About

 

Recently while enjoying a bag of peanut M&Ms I realized that stamping the “M” on each and every of these oddly shaped candies must be an incredible challenge. The peanut M&Ms are the most challenging of all M&Ms to print on because each and every peanut M&M is shaped differently. This is the nature of the peanut inside, it cannot be controlled (or so I imagine). So while chomping on my peanut M&Ms I stared in amazement at how many of these treats actually had the famous stamp on them. I will note that there are a few with no stamp at all, and also a few with partial stamps too.

This got me thinking about how difficult it is to do certain tasks while making candy and snacks. It made me think about the dedication some candy scientists and engineers must be for small detailed aspects of making treats. The stamps on the M&Ms are completely not necessary, but yet it seems like they put a great effort into putting them on, even when the natural shape of a candy and chocolate coated peanut wants to make it extremely difficult.

I’ll be honest, I have no idea how the M&Ms peanut stamp machine works. If given the opportunity I’d love to see it in action in person. I’m also going to eat the rest of these M&Ms with a little more care, inspecting each and every stamp on each and every M&M. I’ll feel a little sad when it doesn’t have a stamp, but feel great pride for the candy makes with every stamp I see. Each time I see a stamp that’s only partially on, I’ll wish them better luck next time.

It’s also a good time to think a little more about the treats we eat. From what I understand puffed corn snacks like cheesies are super challenging to make. I also can’t imagine how one layers wafers and chocolate so thinly as you find inside a Kit Kat bar. Even getting the well sliced potato chip or perfectly formed gummy can’t be easy. I may not know how they do it, but I think I’m going to stop a slow down when I’m snacking and pay a little tribute to the brilliant scientists and designers of the candy world.