State fairs attract a wide variety of visitors annually by appealing to a broad cross-section of people. There is generally something for just about everyone to see and do. While some attractions located in the midway include games, such as a ring toss, there is also an ample variety of food offered by multiple vendors to whet guests’ appetite.

While just about every fairgoer has probably eaten their fair food staples, including corn on the cob, hot dogs, hamburgers, and corndogs, vendors have expanded the offerings available. The following list highlights five unique and unusual foods available at state fairs around the United States this year.

Iowa puts pasta press to use while dishing Cookie Dough Spaghetti

Iowa is home to the nation’s oldest state fair dating back to 1854, according to The Manual. The fair’s place in history, while important, has not attracted as much attention as a dessert that attendees may select. Touted as Cookie Dough Spaghetti, the dish has gained attention for enabling people, who love raw cookie dough, to eat the dessert without risking a case of salmonella poisoning, the Des Moines Register pointed out.

The recipe, which calls for no eggs, very much looks like traditional spaghetti noodles served with a red sauce topping, appropriately appointed with a mock meatball.

The dessert, however, is far from actual pasta noodles. The bed, made with heated flour, is dough put through a hand-held pasta press, resembling noodles.

Cookie dough dessert ingredients

The Des Moines Register divulged the ingredients, as well as the process applied, for making the one-of-a-kind dessert, which is found only at Iowa’s State Fair, which runs until August 20.

White chocolate syrup, spiked with some red dye, makes the sauce topping. The meatball is a Ferrero Rocher chocolate, dessert creator Dennis Mitchell stated.

The dessert is so unique that it also grabbed attention from People, which reported on additional unusual foods available at state fairs this season.

Louisiana serves frog legs with so-called Lily Pads

Louisiana State Fair has a booth known as Ms. Piggy’s. The vendor serves a duo of crisp fried green tomatoes or ‘Lily Pads’ and fried frog legs. Wonder what Kermit would make of Ms. Piggy’s take on frog legs! The state’s fair in Shreveport opens on October 25 and lasts until November 11.

Ice cream made in Wyoming with the churn of a tractor engine

Visitors to the Wyoming State Fair are in for a taste of what it takes to produce Wende’s Hit and Miss Ole Fashioned ice cream. The vendor’s stand puts a 1920s tractor engine to work, churning batches of ice cream. Wyoming’s state fair, held in Douglas spans August 15 through August 18.

Unicorns influence Minnesota’s Rainbow Cloud Roll

While unicorn-themed foods are a hot ticket item, the Minnesota State Fair is dishing a cool unicorn Rainbow Cloud Roll spinoff. Visitors select ice cream flavors ranging from vanilla, chocolate, to strawberry, for example. Fruity cereal coats the ice cream, which is blanketed in cotton candy. St. Paul serves as home to the Minnesota State Fair, running August 23 until September 3.

Maryland makes mighty Crab Patty

Must love crab. That could be the tagline for the Crabby Patty featured at the Maryland State Fair from August 23 until September 3, like Minnesota.

A crab cake is not dwarfed when served with a whole soft-shell crab as a sandwich. The crab patty is no slouch. It’s a good size, approximately comparable in diameter to a burger.
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