Yummy Ohio by Ruth Paget
As I read through Eat and Explore Ohio: Cookbook and Travel Guide by Christy Campbell, I remembered my teen outings with my buddy E. from Detroit when we would drive to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio on Lake Erie. Cedar Point had great roller coaster rides.
We spent all day buying food like cotton candy, funnel cakes, candied apples, caramel apples, corn dogs, and slushsies to help bide time as we waited in line to scream down the roller coasters with our hands in the air. We were young and did not vomit the state fair food.
After being out in the sun for eight hours, we returned home sunburnt with blond streaks forming in our hair. We sang all the way home to our favorite disco artists like Donna Summer, Chaka Khan, Gloria Gaynor, and Gloria Estafan. We collapsed in bed once home in Detroit and thought Cedar Point was just wonderful.
Ohio and Michigan have a famous college football rivalry, which I still ignore. I thought Car City Detroit was jealous of all the fairs and music festivals in Ohio and the nice houses. Eat and Explore Ohio lists some of these envy-inspiring festivals with a description of activities, some of which other fairs might want to incorporate in their offerings. A list of festivals I particularly liked follows:
-Apple Fest
This fair is organized by the New Paris Area Chamber of Commerce and features:
-a classic car show
-food
-music
-a flea market
-Oktoberfest
This 100+ years old event features:
-races
-children’s activities
-wine
-music
-shopping
-games
-Circleville Pumpkin Show
The Pumpkin Show draws 400,000 visitors and features:
-parades
-contests
-games
-crafts
-vendors
-Fulton County Fair
The Fulton County Fair draws 280,000 visitors and features:
-antique sales
-fine arts sales
-Asian Festival
The Asian Festival outside Columbus draws 100,000 visitors and features:
-Asian food
-entertainment
-games
-career fair
-children’s activities
-cultural exhibits
-dragon boat races
-a health pavilion
-a market place
-martial arts demonstrations
Ohio also does a good job in turning its history into tourism sites such as the Zoar Village founded in 1817 by German Separatists. 75 families still live in the community and maintain German cuisine and cultural traditions.
You have to drive the speed limit in Ohio when you tour, because the Amish still drive black, horse-drawn buggies alongside the freeway and other roads.
Ohio offers many reasons to visit and Eat and Explore Ohio: Cookbook and Travel Guide by Christy Campbell provides information on many places to visit as well as healthy food ideas, but I will forever associate Ohio with funnel cake.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
