Even though you can buy it in bags and tubs all year long, it’s just not the same as a cone at the fair wielding the sweet, sticky sugar web taller than a 1960s beehive. Cotton candy may be light, but that also makes it easier to eat more of it.
The all-American hot dog is perfect for the ultimate all-American event. Whether your topping choice is mustard, ketchup, mayo, or all three, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s twice the size of a normal hot dog. Surprisingly, you’re better off eating a jumbo corn dog, which clocks in at only 375 calories on average.
440 Calories Per Bar
A fried candy bar seems to combine the best of all the worlds. You get warm breading, melting chocolate, soft nougat, and the slight crunch of the occasional peanut. A light dusting of powdered sugar usually pulls it all together. Snickers is one of the most popular candy bars in the United States, and it's going to take more than a grease bath for it to lose its appeal.
The turkey legs that can be invariably found at multiple stands across the fairgrounds seem like a good low-carb option in the face of all that fried and sugary food. But there’s over 1000 calories in a leg of turkey, which is more than a pound of meat. To put it into perspective, it’s about six times a normal serving size of meat. Bring a bag from home, take a few bites, and then use it’s foil handle for a wrapper and save some for later.
Even though fried vegetables are wildly unhealthy, when you see those batter-covered, grease-soaked vidalias, it’s hard to resist. Save your waistband, and share it with a friend.
As if a regular cheeseburger’s average of 300 calories aren’t enough, the fair provides ample opportunity to triple that with a nice deep frying. Most desserts can’t even stack up to the calorie count of one! No one wants to share a burger, but how do you tuck those leftovers in your purse?
There’s a multitude of cheesecakes lurking at the fair, and a piece is hard to resist even at the best of times. They can be found soaked in chocolate, stuck on a stick, or covered in fruit. A fried slice is going to have more calories than most, but sometimes, it’s just worth it.
Perhaps it’s the questionable physics of such a feat that makes pizza on a stick so enticing. However, the cheese- and pepperoni-stuffed dough bundle nearly doubles a normal piece of pizza in terms of caloric value. If you just have to eat something on a stick, alligator has about half the calories, and it's is just as exotic.
Bacon has taken a recent jump in popularity, showing up in cake, ice cream, and dipped in chocolate at the fairgrounds. Bacon isn’t known for its nutritional value, and like potato chips, it’s hard to eat just one piece. All those calories add up quickly, so if you have an urge to satisfy, try to buy one strip and then stay away from the stand.
230 Calorie Per Cookie
Fried Oreos are almost as good as a fried snickers, thanks to their cream-filled centers. A normal Oreo has about forty calories, which means eating one fried is like eating six out of the bag—so proceed with caution.
