Deep fried and Delicious: the LA County Fair

You can’t get more American than a county fair. It’s one of the most iconic events on a city, town or state’s calendar and a chance to show off everything that’s great about the US. Spectacular livestock, amazing produce, thrilling carnival rides and games, and tummy growling fair foods. Of course this does include the most incredible range of deep fried foods you could ever imagine – and a few even the hungriest foodies couldn’t imagine.

You don’t even have to go too far to find a county fair – Los Angeles is home to one of the best.

The Los Angeles County Fair is the largest county fair in the United States and is held every year for a month at the end of August. Just over an hour’s drive from the airport, the LACF is an impressive display of all things Americana. It’s got your traditional carnival roller coasters, thrill rides and games (which seem impossible to win yet hundreds of fair goers proudly walk around with their trophy stuffed toys). It also features the state’s best livestock and farming produce. This year, the fair also included a spectacular night time light display and an evening concert series, along with the monster trucks for the young and young at heart.

For me though, my trip to the largest county fair in the USA was all about satisfying an unquenchable hunger for oily goodness. Yes, I was there for the deep fried food.

For years I’d heard about the wonders of the deep fryer. And I was to meet a legend – the King of Deep Fried Foods, Charlie, of Chicken Charlie’s. Chicken Charlie’s is an iconic American county fair name that has travelled the United States, serving up some of the best fried delicacies to ever hit a cardboard serving tray. He’s fried for some of Hollywood’s biggest names, and is the expert of the fryer.