12 STRANGEST & BEST Fair Foods at The LARGEST State Fair in America | Minnesota State Fair FOOD TOUR

Hey guys, good morning, it's Mike Chen. In this video, I'm checking another item off my bucket list by going to the largest state fair in the country, the Minnesota State Fair. When I first came to this country, I used to live in Minnesota, always wanted to go to the state fair and try the food. Never had a chance until recently. And this place is just packed full of good yeats and sometimes very bizarre yeats, but just the most food-centric fair I've ever been to. And before getting to that, I just want to give a big thank you and shout out to the sponsor of this video, AG1. I've been talking about using AG1 for several years now, and it's such an integral part of my daily routine. Usually I get up, a pack or scoop of AG1, then go for a workout or run, that's usually how I start my day. Because this is just such a simple way to cover my nutritional basis, and I told you guys and showed you guys before how I used to travel with over half a dozen bottles of vitamins. That can get really expensive, they take up a lot of room, and they rattle a lot. Now every day, a scoop or travel pack of AG1, 8 to 12 ounces of water, and I personally prefer sparkling water whenever I can. Shake it up, and drink. That's it. Every serving gives me 75 vitamins, minerals, there's some great stuff in there for your gut that I desperately need, like prebiotics, probiotics, plant-based enzymes that help support digestion and overall gut health. I need a lot of energy to get through my day. With this, there's magnesium, B vitamins that support sustained energy throughout the day without the caffeine crash you typically get from coffee. Also I mentioned this before, I don't love eating fruit. A serving of AG1 gives me my daily dose of vitamin C, zinc, functional mushrooms, and more to support my overall immune health. And the overall reason why I love this, it just works. Since I've been taking it, I have more energy. I recommend this to my parents, my friends, now they all take it. It's just such a convenient way to stay healthy. So if you want to give it a try, go to my link down below, you'll get a free one-year supply of vitamin D3K2 and five free travel packs with your water. Alright, I'm gonna get my food day started, and enjoy the video. Hey guys, Mike Chen, I am here in St. Paul, Minnesota, for the largest fair in the country, the Minnesota State Fair. And what's really interesting about this fair compared to all the other ones I've been to, it extends into the neighborhoods around the fairgrounds. I mean, there's people selling food, drinks. This is pretty incredible already, and I'm not even inside yet. And as soon as you step inside, you smell, well, a lot of food. First food I came across, cookie dough on a stick. Actually, this whole block here seems to have a lot of different foods on a stick. For example, pizza on a stick. I haven't even taken my first bite yet, I already want to come here every single day. This is so incredibly decadent. That is good. I'm glad I got the one with the chocolate chip, gives you a little bit of a crunchy texture with the cookie dough. When I was growing up, my family never made cookies or anything. I just felt like I missed out. This pretty much tastes like the childhood I never had. But with a ton more sugar. I came inside this building because there's a big sign outside that said food building, which sounded really welcoming. There's cheese curds, burgers, fries, corn dogs, pretty much everything you want. Oh, I want some cheese curds. This looks amazing. Fried cheese curds, absolutely phenomenal. Now it feels like I'm at a fair. Really nice, crispy outer shell, and it passes the squeak test. I'm just seeing where the longest lines are, and this place has a lot of people waiting. Afro Deli and Grill. Thank you so much. This is veggie, beef, and chicken. Veggie, beef, and chicken. Yes. So Afro Deli specializes in East African food, and they're here making sambusas. Also for drinks, Somalia tea. They told me this is usually served hot. And they're really the only ones who made an iced tea version of it, which I appreciate because right now today, it's about 100 degrees outside. Whoa, this is a very spiced up iced tea. It's sweet, aromatic, very robust. I think it's gonna go really good with these fried pastries. So I got three. I got chicken, vegetable, and beef. Chicken first. This is really, really good. Also, this is not the chicken, this is the vegetable. Deliciously fried on the outside, inside is stuffed with, I think, some potatoes, lentils, vegetables, tons of herbs and spices. Every bite, you get that subtle crunch of the outer shell. Inside is soft and fluffy. This is pretty much a fried pouch of flavor. This is the chicken one. Wow. If I love the vegetable one that much, I'm gonna like the meat one even better. Nice crunch on the outside. The chicken is tender, it's juicy. It's marinated in a beautiful array of spices and herbs. Didn't even dip it in the hot sauce yet. Yeah, all those flavors, plus now a hit of heat, even better. This is the beef. This is definitely my favorite. This thing is stuffed with juicy ground meat. Again, with that beautiful array of herbs and spices, plus some crunchy onions. Every bite you take, just a burst of juice. Cool down with some fried plantains. Talk about long lines. So there's a handcrafted donut stand right over there. The line goes all the way over there. To Tony, Colby, and Cecilia. Are you guys gonna give me a taste of this? I just want a little piece. Absolutely. Thank you so much for the donut. You sure I can take this? Yeah. Enjoy. We'll eat at the same time. Okay, yo. Everybody grab one. I've already had it. You had it? Was it worth it? It's worth it. It's nothing I've ever had before. They like knead it, so it's like super soft. I was gonna say, it's very soft. Cheers. What? Worth it? Yeah, it's pretty worth it. I've never had a donut like this before. Pretty worth. That's crazy. First of all, I think you gotta have it piping hot. It makes such a difference. Always fresh donut. And it's just the most softest thing. Yeah, and the glaze is so simple. It's not even like heavy sugar. It's not overly sweet. Thank you guys for the donut. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Have fun. Take care. Bye. This place looks fun. Giggles Campfire Grill. Wildlife Fritter Pops. Thank you so much, sir. Yeah. Appreciate it. Only at state fairs. You can pretty much find everything on a stick. Dip it in some of the spicy mayo. Super crunchy on the outside. This thing's got a really nice crunch. Inside is light and mild, like a fish meatball. It's nice and aromatic from the herbs. First time having a fish lollipop. Not too bad. So I'm at Big Fat Bacon. And Dolly and Sue are here with me. So you guys had this before. Yeah, it's my favorite. The Big Fat Bacon with chocolate drizzled on top. You told me about the chocolate. No, you cannot miss it. You have to do it. Okay, so you drizzle chocolate on mine. Sue can't even help himself. You already started. All right. Cheers, guys. Really good, right? Salty, sweet. I used to think it was weird when I first heard about it. But then I tried it and I was like, wow. Savory and sweet. It's really fatty and got a nice char on the outside too, right? Yeah. Wow, this is wonderful. Thank you guys so much. They also have an orange chipotle sauce. I went back and added some on this as well. So this is a big fat piece of bacon with chocolate and orange chipotle sauce. Wow, I think it works. I mean, that bacon would have been delicious on its own just the way it is. The orange chipotle sauce actually adds a nice citrusy flavor to it and a little bit of heat. So Minnesota has a huge population of Hmong people. And today at the fair is International Hmong Day. So I figured I'd get some Hmong food. And this is a galabao. This is a traditional Hmong steamed bun. I got this from Union Hmong Kitchen. And Chef Yi cooked this based on his mom's recipe. Super light, pillowy, fluffy steamed bun stuffed with pork and eggs. I have not had a good steamed bun in a while. And this is a good steamed bun. This is just pure, fluffy, porky, eggy comfort food. Little hint of sweetness. Pork is deliciously savory. I love the addition of the egg. In a dabao or a Cantonese big bun, there's an egg in there as well. It's just so satisfyingly rich. They also provided some of their homemade hot sauce. Oh, like how red that became. That is so awesome. It's 100 degrees right now. Literally. And I know that's going to raise my internal body temperature by a lot. Worth it. Wow. Tons of heat in the chilies. The heat pairs so well with the savory bun and all that delicious umami-filled pork. It definitely tastes like it came from my mom or grandma's kitchen. So comforting and delicious. Perfect ratio of filling and bun, especially with that hot oil. Wow, this is good. I think I'm gonna keep the hot oil and don't cut her stuff in there. After I get a water, I think I'm about to pass out. I love steak, fair-sized drinks. Thank you so much. Yeah, of course. Thank you. So the waffle's beautifully toasted. Very thin and crispy. And the way they cook it, I've never seen this before. It's a rotating waffle maker. And inside the waffle, there's a slice of cheese, pickles, and a hot dog with bacon wrapped around it. Try this first. I'm going to show you the drink. That thing's pretty outrageous as well. This is one of my favorite things I had today. It's so, so good. This is a must-try. It's a genius food creation. Waffle, very thin and toasty. Every bite, you're going to get a nice crunch. And you're going to taste that sliced sweetness from the waffle as well. Inside, beautifully snappy hot dog, mummified and toasty bacon. Yes, you want that. And of course, that is going to be really rich, especially with a slice of cheese in here. Which is why they added the pickles. The pickles cut through all that richness. And the sliced sweetness from the waffle also balances out the savoriness very well. Crunch from the pickle. Crunch from the waffle. Just freaking outstanding. Also, the drink. This is their famous lemonade with pickle juice and a slice of pickle floating on top. It actually goes really well with the bacon hot dog waffle. The pickle juice just adds to the acidity of the lemonade. You still get the sweetness. It just tastes like extra sour lemonade. That's also extra refreshing. This is pretty good. Pair this up with anything fried or fatty or rich. This is a really good place. Love this. One of my favorite fair foods so far. And right beside the waffle place, Lulu's Public House. This is really cool. I got a couple items here. One is their tater dog. So they battered an all-beef hot dog. And they pretty much wrapped it with tater tots. And for dessert, some fried cheese curd cheesecake with strawberry dipping sauce. This is so exciting. I love tater tots. Wow. This is dense. It's super hefty. And it's just the best marriage between a hot dog and tater tots. The outer shell of the hot dog is just incredibly crunchy. The hot dog is amazing as well. Very snappy. Incredibly juicy on the inside. Really nice beef flavor. Give you some cheese sauce to dip it in. You get such a loud crunch with every single bite. It's like the crispiest tater tots you've ever had. Wrapped around that hot dog. This is really interesting. This is called a bow bite. So they're blackened tenderloin. A little dipping sauce. This stuff is all sorts of tender. Really nicely seasoned. A lot of flavor in these little bites of beef. This is very, very good. This is the prime rib taco. Sliced pieces of prime rib. Drowned in cheese and peppers. This is a gooey, gooey taco. I mean stuffed with tender prime rib. This thing when it goes in your mouth, you definitely taste the smokiness of the peppers. You got that beautiful cheese with a hint of heat. You barely need to chew this. I mean that meat pretty much disintegrates on your tongue. A little bit of caramelized onions in here for a bit of sweetness. This is fantastic. This is so exciting. Little bits of cut up cheesecake. Covered with funnel cake batter and deep fried. This is so freaking good. And this thing is not greasy. They're so light and airy. It's been sitting on the table for about 10 minutes. It's still really, really crispy. The crunch on the outside just pops open inside. Light as air cheesecake. And dipping it in the strawberry sauce brings the nice amount of tartness and acid to balance out the richness of the cheesecake. Yeah, this is one of my favorites so far. Huge line for this pizza. So Rick serves a pickle pizza. Snagging myself a slice of the pickle pizza. Got a ton of pickles on here. Also their own creamy dill sauce right below the layer of cheese. This thing is toasty hot right now. A couple things I'm really a big fan of. Pickles and dill. Love both things. This was like a perfect combination for me. The pickles really balances out the rich creaminess of the cheese and the sauce on the pizza. The dill just kicks up an additional fragrant punch. Dough is perfectly light. It's beautiful. Reminds me of a New York City pizza dough. It's a very thin slice of pizza. Pickle, never had it on pizza before but I think it works really well. This is definitely a slice of pizza that when you're eating it you don't feel like it's overly cheesy or overly greasy or overly anything. I've had a lot of pizza in my life. This is probably one of the most unique ones. The overall quality of everything. It embodies everything I like in a slice of pizza. I can definitely see why there's a long line for this thing. I think I'm done with all the savory items here at this fair. Now for some cookies. And these are the most famous cookies at the Minnesota State Fair. Sweet Martha's cookie jar. Holy moly, look at this. This is a bucket of cookies. Wow. And I got a note. They put a whole sheet of cookies on here and they asked me if I wanted more cookies on top of that. I said yes, of course. So they went and got more cookies and shoved it on top. Dunk the chocolate chip cookie in the milk. This is so good. Fresh out of the oven. Toasty cookies with a subtle crunch on the outside. The chocolate chips are all nice and gooey. Look at that. Oh my god. Still toasty warm. Dunk it in milk. Even better. I always heard how good those were. Yeah, it's true. I love how they overstuffed the bucket. This is a fantastic last food item at the Minnesota State Fair. Actually, such a hot day. I'm kind of craving some ice cream. Been walking past this little ice cream cart all day long. And this is their new Bee Sting Sundae. That's really interesting. So it's their homemade vanilla ice cream. Homemade whipped cream. And they put spicy peanuts on here and spicy honey. And it's spicy, sweet, crunchy. The ice cream is really rich and creamy. The heat actually cuts through the richness very well. I like the crunch from the peanuts. More importantly, dunk my cookie in there. This is what I like to call State Fair fusion food. This ice cream is perfect for this cookie. This has been an absolute phenomenal food day here at the Minnesota State Fair. It's a fair I wanted to go to since I was a little kid. I never got a chance to. Actually, I always wanted to come to the Twin Cities to go to Mall of America, go to the fair. Never really had a chance to do either. So this has been a giant check off my food bucket list. The food variety at this fair, I think, is the biggest variety I've seen at any state fair in the country. And of course, this is the biggest fair in the country. So I guess that's no surprise. I also met some of the friendliest people here. Thank you to everybody who stopped by and wanted to share their food with me or wanted to just say hi. That made this food day even better. So after today, I think I'm at least three shades darker and a bucket of cookies richer. This will be my late dinner. As always, thank you all so much for watching. Until we eat again, see you later.