Fried Coke (and other fried things inspired by Texas)

CNN is reporting that deep fried lattes, fried chili pie, fried banana pudding and fried guacamole are all highlights set to premier at this year's third annual Big Tex Choice Awards contest. The event, which "tests the fair grub ingenuity of State Fair concessionaires," is interesting not just because it's the first time I've seen the word concessionaires, but also because I had no clue people wanted their lattes deep fried. Of course, the really interesting thing is that all of these ingenious foods come with a bit of a complex: They're all trying to emerge from the shadow of 2006's show stopper, the fried coke. The darling of the deep fried dough world, the dish combines 1 part ingenuity with several parts coca cola syrup (included both in the batter, and in the sauce). In fact, the dish was so popular that it sold over 16,000 servings in its first two weeks—a pretty stunning figure according to vendors.
As for just how many calories come in the new New Coke, that figure's been estimated at a good 820+ calories... and yet no one seems to be working on the diet follow-up. In any case, as of now it sounds like fried coke is going to reign without any sort of Pepsi challenge, as the other colas seem happy to let their foe bask in the Texas limelight. Click here to read more at CNN.