State Fair Dish
By Andrew Zimmern
For me, the most poignant moment of the State Fair came late (9 p.m.) on Sunday evening, when my family and I were strolling in the Creative Activities building. We came around the corner to the cookies window behind St Agnes' booth, and my wife spots Marjorie Johnson staring at the windows taking notes on all of the ribbon winners. I asked her whassup, and she looked rather forlorn as she explained what I already knew—that the organizers had severely limited her participation over the years to almost nothing because of complaints from entrants concerning her "professional" status. So she was doing the only thing she could, coming late when no one was around and take notes. I am hoping that the State Fair committees in charge of these things take notice and allow her to compete next year. It’s shameful drawing vague exclusions around participants and it takes all the fun out of ‘Beating the Champs’ for the truly once-a-year baker.
I thought the best new food this year was the Harry Singh roti, which isn’t new, but in a year without many good new foods that’s all I came up with. The pot roast sundae was disgusting, mostly because of the meat quality, so don't feel bad if you missed it. The pig cheeks at Dave’s were ok, but not great.
BTW, my book drops today in bookstores everywhere.
© 2008 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
Congrats on the book. I read the fly-leaf. It says you live in Minneapolis. Have you moved from St. Paul, or is that one of those typical Twin Cities errors?
Posted by: Q on September 8, 2009 at 6:55 PM
I too noticed that Marjorie had several entries into various categories and I seemed to remember her having a couple blue ribbons on those entries too. But when I looked at one of the local papers winner list for the fair, her name was no where to be found. A couple of other names dominated the list but no mention of Marjorie!
And I know she was entered! I even took a picture of the one I saw in the Agriculture building, which was a honey bread. Because I love her so much! She is a champ and people should want to beat the champ! Not win out of default, because they are not letting the champ compete!
I enjoyed the Swedish meatballs on a stick with lefse and lingonberry sauce! I am sure its not new either but it was new to me and delicious! I also enjoyed the frozen apple cider from the U of M especially because it was $1!
I will be picking up your book!
Safe travels into our Bizarre World! My husband & I will be watching!
Lexi Cox
Posted by: Lexi on September 8, 2009 at 8:54 PM
The Swedish Mafia disallows true competitions??? Shudder the thought.
Posted by: tim on September 9, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Hey Andrew,
Harry Singh IS new to the Fair this year!!! We're all very excited to see his incredible cuisine being exposed to a wider audience like the State Fair. Hopefully people will try his restaurant in South Minneapolis for more delicious Trini food.
Congrats on the book - we'll be picking it up for sure.
Best regards,
Raina Amir
Forest Lake, MN
Posted by: Raina Amir on September 16, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Regarding your comments about the opening of
Anchor Fish and Chips. Luke Kyle one of the
owners is from Belfast not Dublin.
Posted by: Judith on November 1, 2009 at 2:14 PM