Fringe Festival 2022: A Full Fringe Feast!

This year's Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival (North America’s largest, longest-running Fringe Festival, BTW) was very much "back to normal" this year, especially compared to last year. This meant that there were plenty of food options and like usual, I was happy to indulge in as much of the Fringe eating as possible. I visited the fringe grounds on as many occasions as I could over the course of the eleven days and even though I managed to consume six green onion cakes, I also ate lots of other things as well. Here are the foods that I ate at the festival this year:

Green Onion Cake from Taste of Mongolia ($8.00) This should be a given at this point and if you don't eat *at least* one, let me assure you that you are "doing it wrong." However, let's talk about inflation. Last year these were $6 and they have gone up in price by two whole dollars. Years ago they used to be $4.50. At the end of the day, I'm still going to eat a small fortune worth of them, heaping with Sambal hot sauce. And you should too. Green onion cakes not only represent the Fringe experience, but Edmonton as a whole.

Original German Pretzel from The Butchers Son ($6.00) This was supposed to be served with mustard but no one ever gave me any mustard (I realized this later). The pretzel was "fine" but if you're familiar with Zwick's no other pretzel can compare. They probably shouldn't even try. But I didn't hate it.

Peruvian Corn Punch from Chocolate Covered Bananas ($4.00) Screw the bananas! The drink is where it's at! I LOVED THIS SO MUCH! Quenching, unique, purple. A must-try. Beverages at the Fringe don't only have to be lemonade and I loved this alternative.

Meat and Veggie Combination from Langano Skies Ethiopian Restaurant ($17.50) Sambusa from Langano Skies Ethiopian Restaurant ($4.00) Did you cry tears of sadness when Langano Skies closed their restaurant earlier in the summer (like I did)? Were you trilled to see them at the Fringe (like I was)? I was so happy to pay them a visit and to get to taste their food once again! I got the spicy chicken breast and the curried split peas and of course a lentil sambusa (my favourite) and it was all delicious. A bit challenging to eat at a festival but I will do it for you all day, Langano Skies.

Kale & Spinach Pesto Spaghetti Cone from Spaghetti Cone Food Truck ($12.00) This year I wanted to try "the green one." I loved this! If eating spaghetti from a cone is wrong, I don't want to be right. It's portable and it's actually quite easy to eat while walking around. It tasted really good! And everyone knows that green vegetables = HEALTH. So. Next year I want to get the Formaggio one and I'm writing that down so that I don't forget.

Festival Sausage from The Butchers Son ($14.00) I was sold on this as soon as I saw that they had made a special "limited edition" festival sausage and that it was truly a FOOTLONG. I had it all dressed with fried onions, mustard, and sauerkraut... And I guess some ketchup found its way on there too? The sausage itself was flavourful but I found that the bun was way too dry.

Tiger's Blood Lemonade from Lemon Heaven ($3.75 for small) Classic. This year you could add your own flavours yourself and really go to town. I've come around on the strawberry coconut "tiger's blood" flavour and opted for that. My son was full blue raspberry. Mix all nine flavours together for a true sugar nightmare?

Sweet & Chilli K-Popcorn Chicken from BF Korean Chicken ($13.00) This was my NUMBER ONE item at Taste of Edmonton so I was naturally excited to find them at the Fringe as well. Just like the last time, this chicken was SO juicy and tender, while the fried golden batter on the outside was a crispy perfection. The portion size was very large as well. This was likely my favourite thing that I ate overall! Two for two, BF Korean!!! This year's Fringe was absolutely wonderful and I enjoyed everything about the entire experience. The eats made me happy and I can't wait to do it all again next year!