PNE 2022 Fair Food Tour from Wacky to Healthy

 

The PNE is well underway for its 112th year, and with it comes exciting new foods to try. Fair food vendors are always trying to come up with the wildest creations. I am a sucker for traditional fair foods. Each year I look forward to cinnamon sugar-dusted mini doughnuts and the massive freshly squeezed lemonades. 

My favourite has to be Acai Dude. The Acai High smoothie bowl was refreshing and perfect for a hot summer day. A blend of acai, mixed berries, banana and coconut milk were topped with fresh fruit, peanut butter drizzle and florals. I guess I have become one of those boring healthy people, but I swear, fresh fruits taste so much better and do not leave me feeling heavy like fried food does. 

Other delicious eats include the Brisket Beef Pho Taco from Taco Tigre. The team does a fusion of Vietnamese and Mexican food, so expect Vietnamese flavours folded into a corn tortilla. Roasted Revolution is grilling up corn on the cob with tasty flavourings. The Japanese Aburi Street Corn is a take on the elote with mayonnaise, cheese and a seaweed seasoning. 

Two longtime PNE staples are The Little Donut Bakery and Curry in a Hurry. The Little Donut bakery has been a part of the PNE for 45 years and was founded by Eldred Johnson in 1968. He built the original mini donut machine with leftover WW2 airplane parts! The Little Donut Bakery is serving Nanaimo Bar Mini Donuts, their signature warm donuts drizzled with chocolate and frosting. 

Curry in a Hurry is celebrating their 40th year at the PNE. They are known for their samosas and they are sticking to it. The classic vegetarian samosa is delicious with its potato vegetable filling and crispy exterior. 

Now for the more wacky offerings for the 2022 PNE Fair. Summerland Soft Serve is embracing childhood with a Mac and Cheese Soft Serve. Definitely an eyebrow raiser. I tried it and to me, it tasted more like cotton candy with a very faint aftertaste of Kraft Dinner powdered cheese sauce. I wish they embraced the Mac and Cheese flavour. Perhaps even dust the soft serve with the powdered cheese. Sweet and Salty work, but I think they played it too safe. 

The Saltspring Noodle Bar has combined its noodles with cotton candy. Unfortunately, the execution was lazy because the team took a handful of cotton candy and topped their noodles. Cotton candy is sugar so it immediately began to melt from the warm noodles. You end up with sugary noodles which is a hard pass for me. 

BYES