Fringe Festival 2023: Eleven Full Days of Fringe Eats!

I'm a major Fringe-goer. For eleven days the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival takes over my life and dominates my time. Did you know that it's the largest, longest running Fringe Theatre Festival in North America? In addition to seeing shows (I saw 23 this year!!) I also spent a ton of time on the Fringe grounds. This meant that I also indulged in as much of the Fringe eating as I possibly could! Yes, I managed to consume six green onion cakes. But I also ate a lot of other things as well!

Here are the foods that I ate at the festival this year:

Green Onion Cake from YEG Green Onion Cakes ($8.00) First and foremost. No introduction necessary. The only (very big) problem is that they didn't have any sambal hot sauce available this year!!! *GASP* There is a supply shortage. I simply cannot eat green onion cakes without copious amounts of sambal and thankfully I had a jar in my fridge at home. So yes, I did start bringing my own sambal to the festival with me and it was worth it. The Fringe even sold green onion cake scented candles this year, because that's just how much of an icon these things are.

Tiger's Blood Lemonade from Lemon Heaven ($4.00 for small) Classic. I used to like drinking mine plain but I've come around on the strawberry coconut "tiger's blood" flavour and always get that one now. There are nine flavours to choose from! You've gotta have a lemonade at least once.

"South Pacific" Katsu from Filistix ($16.00)

Breaded chicken cutlet, coconut curry sauce, served with jasmine rice & Asian slaw. I loved seeing Filistix at the festival this year and I thought that they added a very welcome twist to the usual Fringe vendor roster. This dish was well-rounded and I loved the big flavours. The chicken was deliciously crispy and a coconut curry is always welcome as far as I'm concerned!

Lentil Sambusa from Langano Skies Ethiopian Food ($4.00) Very happy to see Langano Skies at the fest again this year. I have always loved their lentil sambusa a lot, so I was pleased to grab one. Served with a tasty hot sauce, these are delicious, portable, easy to eat, and function as a perfect snack.

Chicha from Chocolate Covered Bananas ($4.00)

This Peruvian corn punch is one of my favourite things to drink at the Fringe. It's purple, it's unique, and it tastes great! Branch out and try something different that isn't lemonade!

Deep-Fried Grilled Cheese + Prosciutto from Spaghetti Cone Food Truck ($17.00) Melted provolone, cheddar & mozzarella topped with prosciutto between fig & mayo-coated slices of bread and deep-fried. A new item this year, this sandwich innovation sounded amazing. Unfortunately in execution, I didn't find it as amazing. Yes, it was cheesy, and yes, there was a very crunchy fried exterior. But I barely noted any prosciutto (there was a tiny bit) and I definitely didn't notice anything involving fig. It was served with a dipping sauce and that was kinda fun.

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Poutine from Arcadian Junction Street Kitchen ($14.50) People seemed pretty impressed by the sandwiches at this truck but I'm always swayed by anything buffalo. This poutine was OK. I wanted the fries to be better and the chicken was pretty bland. It could've used some more curds as well. I guess the idea was to throw some Frank's RedHot on top and to call it "buffalo"... But it needed more.

Ferrero Rocher Specialty Milk Tea from Bestea Bubble Tea ($10.00) I LOVED THIS!!! It had real crushed hazelnuts in it as well as hazelnut spread and it really tasted a lot like a Ferrero Rocher! I loved seeing bubble tea at the fest this year and this decadent drink made me very happy!

Formaggio Pasta from Spaghetti Cone Food Truck ($13.75) Fontina cheese, cream, gorgonzola cheese & parmesan. A surprisingly portable way to eat spaghetti! I try a different one each year and this time it was the cheesy one! It was very creamy but I felt that the sauce was a bit too thin. I wanted more gooey cheesiness! I also did not taste the gorgonzola at all, which was a shame. Otherwise, I wasn't too mad at it. Next year I want to get the Aglio a Olio one!

Limited Edition Blonde Ale from Sea Change Brewing Co. ($9.00) I absolutely LOVED that the beer tents were sponsored by Sea Change this year - SO MUCH BETTER to have a local brewery running them instead of some crappy mass-produced beer brand! And on top of that, a special Fringe beer to boot! Everything about this was great. This year's Fringe was absolutely wonderful. I fringed my little heart out! I can't wait to do it all again next year (after taking some much needed rest and recovery time!). Fingers are crossed that the sambal shortage will be over and that there are even more tasty new things to try!