Test your fair food knowledge

State fair season is ramping up across the US, and among the many attractions at these end-of-summer festivals perhaps none is more celebrated than the food. People flock to stands selling a variey of goodies, more often than not deep fried and served on a stick. Some of the offerings are quite far-fetched, which led the St. Paul Pioneer Press to develop a quiz to test your state fair food knowledge.

It’s difficult to spot the real from the make believe because all of the foods are quite over-the-top. For example, one of the following is real and the other fake: Italian Dessert Nachos: Cinnamon sugar cannoli chips smothered with sweet ricotta cheese filling, fruit, chocolate, nuts and candy toppings, or Upside-Down Spaghetti Pizza: Garlic pasta tossed in homemade red sauce and stuffed inside a thick slice of deep-dish pizza with choice of toppings.

Other items on the list include Mac & Cheese Cupcake, Deep Dish Popcorn Cheesecake, and Maple Bacon Funnel Cake. Can you tell which one of those is real? Take the quiz and see how well you do. And who knows, given the proclivity of vendors to out-do each other’s offerings, by next year all of those items might be on the “real” list.

Photo of perennial state fair food favorite, Funnel cakes, from Leite’s Culinaria