Grub off a stick
 

You know, I honestly don't understand why the concept of eating food off a stick isn't as popular as it should be.

Benefits:
1) You can essencially stab/stick through anything on a stick/skewer to eat it. (except maybe certain starch sources like rice where it would fall apart)
2) You can eat while walking
3) You don't have to worry about dishes!
4) You can keep one hand free while eating (no utensils)!

It's popular around festivals for food to be on a stick for this very purpose. Some popular staples include: barbecue kabobs, hot/corndogs, ice cream popsicles, hell, you can even find cheesecake on a stick nowadays.

Again, there are things that just aren't practical for preparing on a stick (all things liquid like soup, duh), but I think it'd be interesting to find something you'd normally not see it eaten in such fashion. What are some favorites you've come across? Any ideas for a new type of stick-food? What do you think about pizza on a stick? Steak?

Iowa has the best state fair in the country (or so they say).

It's not hard to see why.

Food on a stick is so delicious. Why is it that the mere act of sticking something on a stick and deep frying it could make me want to eat it, when I otherwise would have absolutely no interest? Amazing.

Sticks are amazing.

I'm not fond of food on a stick, because sooner or later you have to start eating around said stick, which can be awkward, especially if it has a pointy end. If I'm eating stick food and I have a plate and utensils, I pull out the stick and eat with a fork.

That said, I guess my favorite stick food would be corndogs.

You eat corndogs with a knife and fork?

What is wrong with you?

I'm a healthy eater, but for food-on-a-stick fans, Midwest state fairs (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri, for sure) are a must.

Kabobs, man... I fucking LOVE lamb kabobs! I only wish I could make them properly but I can never get them grilled right on my miniscule grill so one day I'm gonna have to get something bigger. Still, lamb is always a good choice of food and if you're gonna have it on a stick, it's like 100 times better because it's GRILLED. <3

I once had cheesecake on a stick at some sort of fair and I loved it. I haven't seen it since, but I'll definitely get some if I find it again. At a party I went to once they also had cheesecake on a stick, but it wasn't a whole slice of cake; it was little balls of cheesecake stuck on lollipop sticks and dipped in various things. One of my favorite foods on a stick is caramel apples with chopped peanuts on them. Just biting into one makes me think of when I would go to the fair and rodeo when I was a kid.

Pizza on a stick sounds good, but I think it would be kind of hard to keep it from falling off of the stick since it's so thin. Maybe an extremely thick crust would work. I've seen steak on a stick at the Texas Renaissance Festival and it appeals to the caveman in me on some beast-like level. Cutting up steak never seems to give a person as much of a rewarding feeling as tearing the sucker apart with your bare hands and teeth while it's on a stick would give. And just as a side note, I saw this show on TV a while back that had people over in what I believe was Southeast Asia eating spiders and other creepy-crawlies off of sticks. I don't think I'd be willing to try that.

The only food on a stick sold around here are the deep-fried mars bars/snickers bars. I've never really wanted to try one. Mostly the idea of eating off a stick doesn't sound appealing to me because if I eat, I want to be able to appreciate it, not have to shovel it down before it has the chance to fall on the floor.

You know what, what if it's like those elongated pizza pretzels on a stick? Except maybe the dough would wrap around the filling instead of being like toppings. Hmmm, I guess this would be more like pepperoni pizza-flavored hot pockets on a stick. Just cylindrical in shape, with a stick. Hmm, ideas are brewing.

Double Dave's sort of makes something similar to that, except it's not on a stick. We call them "Peproni Rolls" which is basically pizza dough stuffed with pepperoni, cheese and sauce shaped like a fat bread stick. Quite a tasty and convenient way to have pizza, especially when they have their Tuesday Specials at their kiosks back at campus where you can buy one and get one free.

That sounds like a stromboli.

Or a calzone =o?

Haha, cheesecake on a stick. There really is NO food in Guatemala served on a stick. Fucking sucks. Oddest thing I had on a stick was a deep fried pickle (silly southern bottlenoses) and I'd really like some of those honey glazed Foster Farms corndogs right now. Three of them with lots of that spicy Ketchup I can't find here either. Think it had tabasco.

I think the response I got from a friend with a similar dilemma (she's in Mexico) was "it's because everything's wrapped in a tortilla, you don't need sticks to make your meals utensil-free."

I don't know Guatemala cuisine all that well so I can't really say this is relative, but considering what my friend said and that she's in Mexico it was like "oh yeah, duh."

Ha, yeah, that's true. They make some good ass flour tortilla wrapped burritos over there on the east coast of this country. But its odd no on the stick items are served considering how many American "cuisine" influences this country has picked up.

Not a big fan of food on a stick, generally because its hard to read the more inner pieces of food. Like if you bite it from the side...will the other side fall off? Oh no! But also because kebabs usually come in the combo of meat, green pepper, and mushroom. I'll live with the green pepper, but I can't eat mushrooms, so it seems like a waste.

Oh, oh, oh, I got it guys: chinese DUMPLINGS on sticks! Already pre-flavored with mustard and soysauce in the filling so no drippings will occur! Imagine, your favorite dim sum entrees on neat combinations of skewered mini-items so that you can have them on the go or in the car while driving!!

Shorty, have you tried Shao Lung Bao? You can pretty much eat those without soy sauce or anything, they have like soup/meat juice inside, so that'd kinda work with your idea!

i concure. last time i went there were at LEAST 15 different things on a stick there.


although fried stuff is =\ kinda icky. After becoming a health food nut i can't seem to eat that.

Is that why you were having a chocolate brownie the other day?

I'm pretty sure she said it was a vegan brownie.

Does that magically make it healthy? Last time I checked fried tofu is vegan, but that doesn't make it healthy.

I think by health nut she means she's a vegetarian.

I'm a little wary of eating food off a stick mostly because I have bad mental images of splinters getting stuck in my mouth or lips.

Not that this has anything to do with food, but when I play my clarinet, sometimes I feel like I might be in danger of getting a splinter--no matter how unlikely--from my reed.

I imagine a splinter in the mouth would be quite painful.

Anyways, most food on a stick tends to be delicious simply because they fried it and put it on a stick. I hate hot dogs, but give me a corn dog and I'm there. Although I have to say my favorite food on a stick is a frozen chocolate covered banana. It's very delicious.

Kabobs are great up until it falls off the stick and you look like a fool.

I can't say I ever grew to like corndogs either.

I will agree that foods on a stick are way cool. Why, cuz I'm a lazy ass and don't feel like getting utensils or getting my hands dirty:D