Takeaways From the Minnesota State Fair’s 2024 New Foods List

The State Fair’s 2024 new foods list is here — the official one, at least, as even more unofficial dishes will pop up around the fairgrounds come August. Fair food is all about antics, but this roster spins its usual wackiness into something delightfully pyschedelic with focaccia ice cream sandwiches, Fruity Pebble corn dogs, vegan “shroomy calamari,” sweet corn cola floats, and purple sticky rice served (magically) on a stick. Korean corndogs from Chan’s Eatery are new this year, a wild card in the eternal corndog vs. Pronto Pup debate.

The Fair has left last summer’s pickle theme in the past, a wise move, though this year’s dill-seasoned tater tots do look good. (A note on pickles: Did we inspire the L.A. County Fair’s pickle pizza and pickle ice cream split? Seems so.) There are a handful of exciting new vendors — Kosharina Egyptian Cuisine, El Burrito Mercado, Chan’s, Loon Lake Iced Tea, Indigenous Food Lab, and Paella Depot — and a total of 33 individual new dishes, one less than last year. The four foods that most caught my eye were Tasti Whip’s mango soft serve with chamoy and Tajín, Blue Moon’s sweet corn float, Soul Bowl’s crab boil wings, and that honey-butter-and-potato-chip-topped focaccia ice cream sandwich, a collaboration between Wrecktangle Pizza and MN Dairy Lab.

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the Fair’s new 2024 foods.