Food Fair at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE)
Early on the morning of August 24th, your humble project manager Anabelle caught the 144 and rode all the way up to Hastings to catch the westbound 135 (am I becoming a local or what?) to reach the Pacific National Exhibition (commonly known as the PNE) by 10 AM. Raul and Hummingbird604.com were invited to the media fair food tasting and I went to represent the blog.
It was my first time at the PNE, being so new to Vancouver, and it made me a bit nostalgic for my native Montréal’s La Ronde. Our first stop was the Pennsylvania Dutch Funnelcakes stand, owned by Perry and Suzanne Poudrier, previously famous for its deep-fried Oreos. This year, they brought a new sweet to the PNE: the deep-fried strawberry Pop-Tart. They take a Pop-Tart, dip it in funnel cake batter, deep-fry it and then top it off with Fruity Pebbles (a fusion of Froot Loops and Special K cereals) and a bit of sprinkled whipped cream.
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
Now, I have no idea if the CityTV guy was filming when I said I could feel the pounds coming on by just eating the sample, but if he did, I might be on TV tomorrow morning. In any case, this is not for people on a diet. Not saying it wasn’t delicious… just not super healthy. But then, who eats fair food for health? Little Amélie (the daughter of one of the TV crew member who came along) seems to enjoy hers without any guilt!
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
Our next stop was the longest-standing concession at the PNE, the Parsons family stall. The great-great grandsons of the first Parsons are still working at the stall every year, and this time they came up with a deep-fried delicacy for onion lovers: the Blooming Onion. Now I’m not a fan of fried onions (or onions in general) myself so I didn’t partake, but everyone I asked seemed to enjoy it. The onion does look like a blooming flower and could probably feed a family of four. The staff from the stall says an entire onion is about 1000 calories.
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
Next stop: a PNE-owned stall called Crazy Dogs. The PNE executive chef (whose name escapes me right now) took the last few months to think up ways to renew and spice up this classic fair food: the hot dog. Served in a pretzel bun, these hot dogs come in crazy varieties like mac and cheese, poutine, mexican and the Double Dog Dare Ya, a 2-foot-long hot dog topped with chili, grilled onions and peppers. Something else that could feed a small group… It’s a really big hot dog, and if you order one you get to wear a tag to show your bragging rights, like my new friend Sandra Thomas from the Vancouver Courier.
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
I got a piece of the poutine hot dog and even got to ask the chef why he didn’t use cheese curds (and if you follow my quest for the best poutine in Vancouver, you know how cheese curds matter!). He said that because so many other items had cheese in them, it was simpler and quicker to just use the same cheese for everything. Good answer, sir! The gravy-soaked pretzel bun and ginormous smoked sausage didn’t taste much like poutine to me, but it tasted great nonetheless.
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
The last stop was the most impressive one, and a perfectly planned apotheosis it was: the BBQ stalls competing for the PNE’s first Vancouver Rib Festival. I love BBQ like the next gal, but a small food budget and lack of BBQ stop me from enjoying grilled meat very often. So I happily tasted 4 out of 5 of the samples from award-winning BBQ pit masters–I was so stuffed I couldn’t have anymore after 4. All the sauces were different and all had that little something to differentiate them, but my favourite was from the Crazy Canuck Smokers stall–newbies on the BBQ scene but with a lot of potential!
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
Credit: Anabelle Bernard Fournier for HB604
During the tour I got to rub elbows with TV and newspaper crews, which was really nice. Seeing the other side of the screen is always fascinating. There were other bloggers too, like Mary Sheridan from Mary In Van City.
There was lots more stuff available at the PNE and I wish I could have stayed longer to taste more of this crazy fair food. Deep fried Mars bar? I’m so in! (I will also require a double workout tomorrow…)
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Disclosure: Raul and Hummingbird604.com were invited to the media food tour by the PNE media team. The samples were free, but we were not otherwise paid to attend nor were we expected to write a review. As usual, Raul retains editorial control over all the content posted on the blog. If you’d like to read more of Anabelle’s thoughts, look her up on her blog.
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those hot dogs look pretty good but i’m not sure about the pop tart idea. Sounds kind of gross!
the BBQ looks great.
It looks gross but it was actually tasty, in a very sweet, “need to do double cardio” kind of way. Never has the inside of a pop tart been so warm and tasty.
Wow did you really eat all of that? I may try the blooming onion if I go to the PNE. I know what you mean about feeling pounds when eating that stuff. I had the deep fried oreos and mars bar last year..and to be honest I felt gross afterwards. But at the same time I think it’s fun, and very fatty at the same time
that there’s a trend at the fairs to find anything to deep fry
It was actually just a sample… half a pop tart, a piece of hot dog and a few ribs.
[...] I went to the PNE to try some fair food. I tried deep fried pop tarts, a poutine hot dog and BBQ ribs from pit masters. We’re giving away tickets to the International Tap Dancing Festival. There’s still a few days to go and only 2 people entered! I saw CATIVO–a shocking play about the captor-captive relationship. Review by Lois Patterson. I had dinner at a wine bar on Commercial Dr. It was very good and the place has a variety of gelato to choose from. Advertisement GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "0"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); GA_googleAddAttr("IsLong", "0"); GA_googleAddAttr("HasImage", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("HasVideo", "0"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_bg", "ffffff"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_border", "ffc1c1"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_text", "7a7a7a"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_link", "c40000"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_url", "bd2828"); GA_googleAddAttr("LangId", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "books"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "technology"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "entertainment"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "sunday-roundup"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "blogging"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "books"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "dancing"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "fashion"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "food-2"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "journalism"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "list"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "productivity"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "social-media"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "theater"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "vancouver"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "wine"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "writing"); GA_googleFillSlot("wpcom_below_post"); Did you like this? Share it!FacebookTwitterLinkedInLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]