What is the best part about the fair? The food. And while I don't eat the pronto pups or cheese curds, there are plenty of other choices around.
The number one stop on my list has to be the Corn Roast. It's quite the massive setup: a line of workers (usually high school age) rotate on two sides, carrying corn cobs from the huge roasters, hand dip them in vats of butter and hand them off to throngs of people who have already paid for the delicious corn.
Of course, I get mine with no butter, which disrupts the line a little bit, but they are used to requests such as that and promptly get me my corn. Pour on salt and pepper - enjoy! Just be careful not to burn your mouth:
What else is at the fair? Holy Land (my previously mentioned favorite local maker of falafel, hummus, and other Middle Eastern treats) has a booth, there are places to get fresh veggie trays and fruit, salted plain soft pretzels tend to be vegan if you request no butter, fries...they even had a place that had an advertised "animal product free" Asian noodle dish. I wasn't able to make it over to that intriguing booth.
Instead, I fulfilled my food dreams by finding the Midtown Global Market booth, which featured different food vendors each day. I struck gold when I saw that La Loma Tamales was there the day I went. They serve vegan tamales, confirmed because I buy their handmade frozen vegetable tamales and the ingredients say they are free of cheese and lard and other animal products. I also made sure to ask the various cooks and servers. I love these tamales. At home, I put sriracha on them or eat with beans or other foods. They are delicious plain, though.
The pictures don't do justice to their deliciousness:
4 comments:
Thanks, going to check out this year's options tomorrow.
Thanks for the tips! I'm heading to the fair today and was a little nervous I wouldn't be able to find much in the way of vegan treats! Your tips will be very helpful!
I just received an email from Midtown global market. They use lard in the "vegetarian" tamales. See below:
He uses lard.
Kimberly Hanna
Market Coordinator
Midtown Global Market
Neighborhood Development Center
(612) 872-4041 Ext 10
(612) 872-0095 Fax
khanna@ndc-mn.org
NDC entrepreneurs employ over 2,000 of their neighbors and return over $36 Million annually to their own inner-city neighborhoods, according to Wilder Research. Further, 83% say they serve as role models for youth in their communities and 31% serve as leaders in community organizations.
***Midtown Global Market has FREE parking with validation for up to 3 hours in the 10th Ave ramp just north of Lake St.***
From: Brandon [mailto: @gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 9:50 AM
To: Kimberly Hanna
Subject: Re: Vegan Food at the State Fair
What about the Vegetarian Tamale from La Loma?
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Brandon
On Aug 8, 2011, at 9:46 AM, Kimberly Hanna wrote:
Holy Land offers falafel at the Fair and Grand Italian Ice will have an Italian Ice drink (no dairy). I think that might be it for our food vendors and vegan options. I can’t guarantee that the falafel is fried separately from other non-vegan options though.
Thanks,
K
Kimberly Hanna
Market Coordinator
Midtown Global Market
Neighborhood Development Center
(612) 872-4041 Ext 10
(612) 872-0095 Fax
khanna@ndc-mn.org
NDC entrepreneurs employ over 2,000 of their neighbors and return over $36 Million annually to their own inner-city neighborhoods, according to Wilder Research. Further, 83% say they serve as role models for youth in their communities and 31% serve as leaders in community organizations.
***Midtown Global Market has FREE parking with validation for up to 3 hours in the 10th Ave ramp just north of Lake St.***
From: Brandon [mailto @gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 8:36 AM
To: info@midtownglobalmarket.com
Subject: Vegan Food at the State Fair
Hello
Could tell me what food items that you will be offering at the MN State Fair contain no animal ingredients (meat, fish, milk, egg, cheese, etc...)?
Thanks for the help!
@ Anonymous:
Lard to cook the tamales in, or lard in the actual ingredients?
The frozen packaged tamales use no animal ingredients at all - at least it is listed that way. I understand that this is a different kitchen that does the wholesale production of the frozen tamales, but it gave me hope that these were, indeed vegan.
I've talked to the cooks and whatnot at the Midtown Global Market - in Spanish - and at that time there was no meat broth or cheese/dairy used, but maybe there was miscommunication in some way.
I will be disappointed if it is the case that there is lard/animal ingredients used inside the tamales or as the oil. At least I can still get the packaged frozen tamales and/or just make my own.
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