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An important work of food photojournalism

Here's a little photo essay from the wayback machine. Dave, my sister and I went to the Los Angeles County Fair on a blistering-hot September day in 2003. Walking through the entry gate, we swooned from the heat rising off the asphalt and the mingling aromas of meaty grill smoke and livestock waste. Man, it was hot. And meaty. It was a veritable meatwave. Undeterred, we set off on a mission to document the variety of junk food on offer, or more precisely, the foods that were deep-fried and/or impaled on a stick.

My sister and I used to go to the fair every year when we were kids. We have fond memories of riding the weird funhouse rides that folded up into semi trailers, visiting the the giant cows at the milking demonstration, and winning beer mirrors and crappy stuffed toys at that midway game that involves launching rubbery frogs onto plastic lily pads with a mallet. Back then, the only food that came on a stick was a corn dog. You can still get a Hot Dog on a Stick at the fair, but oh, how times have changed. Now they'll impale just about anything on a wooden spike, dunk it in batter and fry it up. Once again, I blame Scotland.

Vegetarians, beware: the photo set contains disturbing images of porcine creatures both live and... on a stick. A very big one.

May 2, 2006 6:17 PM