Yes, Deep-Fried Oreos, but Not in Trans Fats By MONICA DAVEY Published: Aug

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Yes, Deep-Fried Oreos, but Not in Trans Fats

 

By MONICA DAVEY

Published: August 21, 2007

 

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 17 — The deep-fried Combo Plate may be a little

more healthful this year at the Great Indiana State Fair. So say the

fair's leaders, who, taking a step rarely seen in the realm of corn

dogs and fried pickles, have banned oils with trans fats from all the

fryers that line the grounds here.

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Jeremy Orme's stand is the home of the Combo Plate: a Snickers, two

Oreos and a Reese's, all battered and deep-fried.

 

The change is only the latest in a string of bans on artificial trans

fats. Tied to health problems including heart disease, they have been

banished by national restaurant chains, snack brands and New York

City, which forbids restaurants to use them in food preparation.

 

But this is perhaps the most unlikely locale yet: the nation's

classic summer fair, long seen as one final safe haven from the

health police.

 

Along the steamy thoroughfare here, where only sensitive palates can

distinguish among the various cuts of potato (curly fries, ribbon

fries and the old standby, French), fairgoers seemed pleased with the

switch. The food tasted the same, they said happily. And if this

meant they could indulge without guilt or have one more helping, so

much the better.

 

" This is a slice of heaven, " said Ryan Howell, 31, as he cradled his

Combo Plate, which, for the record, consists of one battered Snickers

bar, two battered Oreos and a battered Reese's Peanut Butter Cup —

all deep-fried in oil that is trans-fat free, thank goodness.

 

" This was an issue we wanted to tackle, " said Cindy Hoye, executive

director of the fair, which spent the winter months testing various

oils and, despite the fears of some concessionaires about possible

changes to taste or costs or tradition, concluded that trans-fat-free

oils created what Ms. Hoye called a better product.

 

National fair officials say Indiana and at least one other fair, the

Western Washington, have led the way on a health issue that is only

now creating a buzz in the fair industry. During a national

convention of fair officials in Las Vegas this November, Indiana

representatives are to offer a workshop, " Going Trans-Fat Free, "

which, the convention program promises, will answer the question

" What is all the craze about? "

 

Some concessionaires here said trans-fat-free oils seemed to leave

" less of a varnish buildup " on their French fry baskets and corn dog

equipment. But Chris Coffman, who helps his brother, Sam, operate a

stand that sells the fried-dough snack called elephant ears, was none

too pleased with the new ways.

 

The oil they are now using has to be changed more often, Mr. Coffman

said (although some other concessionaires said their new oils in fact

required less changing). And he worried, briefly, that the ban might

also apply to the margarine that the Coffmans use to make cinnamon

sugar stick to their doughy confections; it does not, fair officials

ruled.

 

And that, Mr. Coffman said, is the silly part of the whole ban: it

will barely skim the surface of fair food's inherently — and proudly

— unhealthful nature, he said.

 

" It's craziness, " said Mr. Coffman, 45, who says he eats fair food

every day but who appears surprisingly trim. " They're using this for

a marketing ploy. It's a way to convince people that they can eat

more — that somehow all of this is safe now and you can eat all you

want — when we all know that's not true. "

 

The calorie count? The state fair does not require vendors to provide

those numbers, and no one here would venture any guesses. But figures

from the Web site Calorie King.com suggest that a Combo Plate, for

instance, comes to well over 700 calories. That is more than a third

of the entire daily caloric intake recommended by the Department of

Agriculture for a 30-year-old woman who is 5-foot-6 and 130 pounds

and who exercises less than 30 minutes a day.

 

Ms. Hoye, the fair's executive director, pointed out some healthful

(if, judging from the customer lines, less popular) offerings of

salads and tomato juice here. But she was quick to acknowledge that

trans-fat-free oils will not turn standard state fair cuisine into

health food.

 

" When you are having fair food, you are having fun, " she said.

" You're probably still going to use some calories out here. Look, we

can't control what goes in an Oreo, but we can say what goes in our

fryers out here. "

 

Jeremy Orme, who runs Fried Creations, the home of the Combo Plate,

introduced a new item at this year's fair: deep-fried Pepsi. He rolls

out his Pepsi-based dough, dips it in a batter made with Pepsi and

deep-fries it for 90 seconds. His oil, made of soybeans, is trans-fat

free as required, and on the front of his booth he has posted a local

newspaper's account about the fair's trans-fat ban.

 

But inside the booth, where the air is dense with oil, workers

chuckle about the whole concept. And Mr. Orme himself rarely eats

what he cooks here.

 

" I stay away from fried foods, " he said.