Mac and cheese lemonade, deep fried coffee among new food items at Toronto CNE

The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) returns to Toronto this weekend. As it is customary, this year’s food menu list has been released, featuring some very unusual and occasionally delicious new items.

Ketchup and mustard ice cream was teased by the CNE earlier in the month, but we now have a better understanding as to what will be highlighted at The Ex this year; a wacky menu that includes mac and cheese lemonade and pizza, deep-fried coffee, squid cakes and spicy pickle lemonade, to name only a few.

Brace yourselves. Here is what Ex-goers can expect to indulge in when the annual fair welcomes residents back on Friday.

• Light Sabre Cotton Candy
• Cookie Butter Frites
• Mac & Cheese Pizza (Macaroni Pizza, as the CNE, puts it)
• Krispy Kreme Pulled Pork (you read that right)
• Two-foot long nachos
• Pirate’s Treasure (vanilla ice cream inside an edible seashell, apparently)
• Spice Cream (like ice cream, but spicy)
• Squid Cakes (self-explanatory)
• Squid-Ink Korean Corndogs
• State Fair Hot Dog
• Croffles (Croissant Waffles)
• Cinnamon Curd Crunch (deep-fried cheese curds topped with cinnamon sugar)
• Deep Fried Coffee (a deep-fried funnel cake topped with cocoa beans, to be transparent)
• Giant Mozzarella Sticks
• Deep Fried Snickers
• Dole Whip Pineapple Split and Pickle Split (banana split with a twist)
• Eva’s Mac & Cheese Cones
• Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Smash Burger and Burrito
• Edible Rainbow Slime Candy
• Ketchup and Mustard Ice Cream
• Leaning T.O-wer of Pisa
• Seoul-ful Taters

Drinks:

• Mac & Cheese Lemonade
• Spicy Pickle Lemonade
• Colour-changing purple slime soda
• Vegan Sorbet Floats

As usual, The Ex did not disappoint. Some of these food items will surely be a hit. Others may require a little preparation beforehand.

“Vendors are getting ready to welcome back visitors after a two-year hiatus and are pulling out all the frills to celebrate the fun of the fair with creations,” a CNE spokesperson said.

“‘Croffles’ — a croissant-waffle hybrid dessert; ‘Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Smash Burger’ — a loaded burger stuffed with hot Cheetos between red Flamin’ Hot Cheetos buns; ‘Edible Slime’ — a sugary, stretchable dessert topping; ‘Macaroni Pizza’ — two comfort foods packed into one; and of course, the ‘Ketchup and Mustard Ice Cream’ that has gone viral on social media.”

The CNE will kick off on Friday and run until September 5. Advanced tickets purchased before August 18 cost $20, while general admission tickets for people 14 to 64 are $25. Seniors over 65 pay $20 for a ticket.

Children under the age of four get in for free.

Meanwhile, CNE officials are insisting the midway rides and other areas of the fair will be safe despite an ongoing strike by safety inspectors.

Around 170 of these inspectors with the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) walked off the job on July 21 and have been in negotiations since November of 2021.

The CNE says it’s aware of the ongoing dispute and has been “vigilantly preparing for the return of the fair” to ensure that any potential labour disruption would not impact operations or compromise the safety of staff, vendors and patrons.