TORONTO — Wasabi ice cream, Kool-Aid fried chicken and deep fried pickle Oreos are among the wilder food concoctions on the CNE menu this year.
The Canadian National Exhibition has revealed a new batch of gastronomic experiments that include wasabi flavoured soft serve topped with orange sugar pearls and roasted seaweed in a charcoal cone, and New York-style cheesecake topped with tzatziki buttercream and pita chips.
The strongly flavoured wasabi ice cream is made by Caf-Eh T.O., which previously had a sweet and spicy peach mango ice cream at the CNE in 2022.
"It really gives you that sushi handroll feel," the vendor's booth manager Aaron de la Cruz said at a media preview event on Wednesday.
Jumbo-sized offerings at the CNE include a footlong samosa stuffed with potatoes and peas, a 38-centimetre doughnut weighing nearly a kilogram, and a whole deep-fried soft-shell crab on a stick.
Along with midway rides and exhibitions, crazy food offerings are an annual draw for the summer carnival, which kicks off Friday.
"I think you can almost find anything to whet your palate and maybe some things that won't whet your palate at all," CNE Association CEO Darrell Brown said, adding that he's partial to "anything butter chicken."
A butter chicken corn dog and a deep-fried butter chicken lasagna are on this year's menu, along with lavender lemonade, ube sesame street corn and chicken tenders covered in fruity cereal.
The CNE runs to Sept. 2.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2024.
Alex Goudge, The Canadian Press
