Although, given the current COVID-19 mess we're still dealing with, we might not get to eat any of these things this fair season.

So, if we can't eat any fair-food, we can, at the very least, talk about some. Who knows, someone may get inspired to try whipping up some midway cuisine in their own kitchen.

The folks at Gurneys.com (an online seed and nursery company), seized by nostalgia, decided to look into what fair-foods induce cravings in all 50 states. Here's how they came up with their rankings:

We decided to look at the most popular fair food in every state to satisfy this craving. After all, we know that the Cheese Heads of Wisconsin might have different fair favorites than the sweet peach-lovers of Georgia. To find out the regional differences, we looked at Google Trends search data for popular fair food searches across the 50 states and Washington D.C.

Before I looked at their list, I guessed that elephant-ears, corndogs, or lemon shake-ups would be at the top of Illinois' favorites. Stunningly, like most things I bet on, I was dead wrong. Not even close. Gurneys.com says that Illinoisans favorite fair food is....

Gyros.

Really? That just doesn't sound right to me. So, I took a totally non-scientific poll of people walking past my office. Of the 8 people I asked, not one of them chose gyros. We all agreed that gyros are wonderful, but they're not what we have in mind when doing some fine dining at the fair. The answers I got from co-workers included the elephant ears and corndogs that I mentioned earlier, along with pretty much anything on-a-stick. Everyone agreed that if we want gyros, Uncle Nick's and/or Tom & Jerrys will do the trick every time.

Take a look at the rest of the country's choices:

Gurneys, Facebook
Gurneys, Facebook
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The first thing that jumped out at me (after totally disagreeing with gyros) was what the folks in Iowa are grooving on. Deep fried butter. That, and the fact the only Illinois and Indiana prefer gyros.

The big winner in this study turns out to be cotton candy, which made the top of the list in 8 states. Onion rings were the winner in 5 states, while chili was the top choice in 4. Onion rings were also tops in the Midwest.

 

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