After doing this since… holy shit… 2010, I think I may have finally designated one C.N.E. food item to the Risky Fuel Fall Fair Eating Challenge Hall Of Fame — the Carla’s Cookie Box Butter Tart. I bought 18 of these bad boys from at the Ex this year and experienced a euphoric blood sugar spike with each of the many variants I tried. But Carla’s tarts are well worn territory that dear readers can explore in the links at the bottom of the page. This year there was a new, more adventurous usage of the humble butter tart that needed to be explored.
Here are the things I ate at the Canadian National Exhibition in 2025:
Dirty Sodas Orange Float 6.9/10
So apparently dirty sodas are a thing meant for teens in ultra-conservative states to go drink at the local malt shop instead of doing meth or Footloose dancing or whatever. Most of the fancy ones at the stall were sold out so I got the Orange Float. It was basically orange soda and heavy cream to make it taste like a creamsicle. Creamsicle is a top flavour, so it was fine.
Coco’s Corndogs Deep Fried Co Meatball Mozzarella Corn Dog 6/10
The first example of what would be a recurring theme this year — corndogs gone wrong — this was a corndog with a splash of tomato sauce and some mozzarella melted on it. It doesn’t really work to fancy up a corndog in this way.
Dino’s Slushy With Alc Copy 10/10
I don’t remember what actual flavour this was, but what I do remember is that these liquor slushie things are absolutely awesome when it’s hot and you’ve been wandering a giant parking lot filled with unwinnable midway games while wavering in a sunstroke ‘n’ sugar delerium.
Pizza Pizza Sweet & Spicy Bang Bang Deep Fried Pizza On A Stick 6.9/10
One of the big novelty food draws this year, Pizza Pizza decided to coat their slices with crushed up Doritos and then deep fry them. The experience actually turns what is normally the most cardboardiest, only-eat-in-moments-of-desperation slice into something that’s an almost Shein deep dish experience. It was bizarrely, inexplicably tolerable.
King’s Hawaiian Bun 6/10
This was a free sweet bun that was being given away as a food sample. Respect to the freebie pedlars even though this was a pretty neutral experience.
Banana Icee
graded 6.2 in 2022
Sushi Corn Dog 5.6/10
Another of the big draw stunt foods for 2025 this was a corndog that was built around a weiner encased in rice and seaweed and then battered and deep fried in the traditional corndog manner. It was absolutely Godzilla-like in size and was a proportionally failure both as a fusion food experience and as a cautionary metaphor about the horrors humanity is capable of creating and unleashing on itself.
Caramel Sample 6/10
We think this might be a caramel sample, though we can’t remember for sure.
Somersby Apple Cider 10/10
A solid sweet cider.
Steamwhistle 10/10
A bit of a baseline beer in the Risky Fuel household, Steamwhistle is neither challenging enough in its flavour to be annoying, nor light enough to be a refuge for binge drinkers. It’s somewhat surprising that after all these years of CNE-going this was the first time I’d ordered one on the grounds.
I Love Churros Caramel Churros
graded 6.1 in 2023
Dutch Frites With Peanut Sauce
graded 6.1 in 2022
Random Mini Donut 7.3/10
If you’ve traversed enough mean streets of Toronto you’ve likely seen these deep fried mini-donut places popping up everywhere. With a consistency that’s slightly more cruller-y than the traditional Tiny Tom’s offerings these delectable little units are quite compelling. Someone was handing these out as freebies on the concourse. We never did find the proper stall.
Legend Dairy Butter Tart Funnel Cake 9/10
This was an absolutely awesome slurry of pick-apart funnel cake mashed up with melty chunks of butter tart topped with a healthy dose of vanilla soft serve. It all worked perfectly and was probably the top stunt food of the season.
Butter Chicken Corndog 5.9/10
Back in 2023 the Rick’s Good Eats CNE Special Butter Chicken Overload ended up being the surprise champ for the season and a confabulation we still think about to this day. The side effect of this triumph was that we’re now easily swayed by other instances of fall fair food thats “butter chicken-ified.” We probably need to stop this chase for risk of it becoming some trudgingly joyless Sisyphean quest.
Nickel Brook Party Dad Crushin’ IPA 10/10
As someone who has come to realize high IPA beers are the refuge of the type of people who punch children and scam old people I’ve mostly moved on from that experience. Calling your beer “Party Dad Crushin’ IPA” is enough to pull me back in for a go, though.
Nickel Brook Cider 10/10
This was “whatever flavour they were selling at their booth.”
Candy Floss Fudge 6.3/10
We’ve almost run the table with all of the relevant varieties of fudge that can be found both in the Craft Building and in the other halls. This technicolour candy floss concoction, however, represented a brave new opportunity. It turns out though that it doesn’t really compare to the more classic variants.
Mascot It’s Ok Fruit Punch Vodka Mix Drink 10/10
Not technically a CNE drink, I got this at the It’s OK Festival happening a couple football fields away from the Ex where I went to go see throwback R&B rapper Kalisway. The drink did get a little gross and powdery by the end, but there was reward in being able to go on this side-quest.
Coca Cola
You know circumstances were bleak when I give up and have a Coke at the Ex. Apparently this is the fifth time I’ve given in and done this.
graded 3.0 in 2010
graded 3.6 in 2011
graded 5 in 2013
graded 5.1 in 2017
Broedie’s Butter Burgers Butter Burger 7.2/10
Once you know that one of restaurants’ big secrets is “douse everything in butter” then the idea of a smashburger that’s been butter-fried doesn’t seem all that exotic. It was still a fine though fundamentally conventional burger.
Mr Pickle Deep Fried Frozen Watermelon 5.5/10
The “frozen” part about this equation was mostly not a lie. It was basically a battered up, almost frozen chunk of watermelon that got quick dipped into the deep fryer. I’m pretty pro-watermelon, but this was not a magical experience. This is the line where “make it X, but deep fry it” has gone too far.
Legend Dairy Deep Fried Butter Tart 8.6/10
Almost as transcendent as the funnel cake experience, the deep fried butter tart may rate as the best “deep fried” sweet item save for the classic deep fried Mars bar. The butter tart is a near perfect item to flash fry encased in a batter layer that sends the tart’s physical state into some warm, gooey topsy-turvy places. Only the absence of soft serve ice cream kept this from being truly elite.
The Cheese And Caramel One Chicken Fingers 5.9/10
The coating was unnecessarily hard and crusty and, much like with its cheese and caramel popcorn cousin, people who are too fond of this combination as part of their chicken finger experience may be mentally broken.
Additional reading:
Things I ate at the CNE in 2024. Including Deep Fried Pickle Oreos and Deep Fried Butter Chicken Lasagna.
Things I ate at the CNE in 2023. Including Funnel Cake Chicken Sandwich and Thanksgiving Dinner On Top Of Fries.
Things I ate at the C.N.E. in 2022. Including the San Francescos Leaning T.O.wer of Pisa and Mustard Ice Cream.
Things I didn’t eat in 2021 because Global pandemic blues closed the EX.
Things I ate at the C.N.E. in 2020 (COVID National Exhibition Edition). Including Double Wiener Cheese Curd Pretzel Hot Dog and Bacon-Wrapped Veggie Corn Dog.
Things I ate at the CNE in 2019. Including the Snickle Dog and the Cheesecake Factory General Custard Sundae.
Things I didn’t eat at the CNE in 2018 because I boycotted to support unionized workers who were fighting The Man.
Things I ate at the CNE in 2017. Including Deep Fried Chicken Foot and Savory Fried Spaghetti Donut Ball.
Things I ate at the CNE in 2016. Including Bug Dog with Roasted Crickets and Deep Fried Butter Tarts.
Things I ate at the CNE in 2015. Including Corrado’s S&M Burger and Iron Skillet’s Frosted Flakes Chicken On A Stick.
Things I ate at the CNE in 2014. Including Fran’s Thanksgiving Turkey Waffle and Coco’s Fried Chicken Cocoa Chicken.
Things I ate at the C.N.E. in 2013. Including Nutella Jalapeno Poppers and the S’more Dog.
Things I ate at the C.N.E. in 2012. Including the Chocolate Eclair Dog and Bacon Nation Nutella BBBLT.
Things I ate at the C.N.E. in 2011. Including the Krispy Kreme Hamburger and Deep Fried Twix.
Risky Fuel 