Elephant Ears, Egg Rolls Add Exotic Flavor to Valley Fair

Forget the sheep-shearing contest. Alden Moyer and his wife, Mary, were more interested in biting into their egg rolls Saturday at the San Fernando Valley Fair.

“Yep, it is unusual eating Chinese food at a fair,” Alden Moyer said, dipping his egg roll into a red, clear substance he called sweet-and-sour sauce. “You know, we come from the East. Back there it’s apple pie, hot dogs and corn on the cob.”

But out here, it’s Hawaiian Shaved Ice, Elephant Ears and Finger Steaks.

For the crowds at the fair this weekend, eating, drinking and slurping what appeared to be ordinary culinary concoctions disguised by exotic names ranked right up there with watching the pickle-making demonstration or the mice, rat and hamster show.

‘We Had That, Too’

“First, we had ice cream, and then a cinnamon roll,” said Marge Whapham, 59, of Pacoima. “Let’s see, then we had a Polish-sausage dog and something cold to drink. . . . Egg rolls? Oh yes, we had that, too.”

And now Whapham, her daughter Shirley Severns, 42, and their friend Pete Correa, 59, of North Hollywood, were sharing a plate of fried zucchini--long, plump strips that were deep-fried and appeared just the slightest bit greasy.

“No, no it’s not as greasy as it looks,” Correa said, ignoring a puddle of oil collecting on the paper plate. “This isn’t junk food. This is a vegetable.”

There are 36 food concessions at the fair--most run by professional fair concessionaires who travel throughout the West--luring crowds to their trailers at CSUN’s North Campus with bright and clever signs.

Take the Elephant Ears, for instance.

Dozens of fairgoers walked by the trailer squinting at the sign and pointing at the menu. Some even peeked in the window.

“It’s like a pizza,” one woman said.

“Looks like some kind of tostada,” another passer-by said.

‘Pancake With Jelly’

“It must be some sort of pancake with jelly on it,” a young woman commented to a companion.

Fran Musante, owner of the trailer, described her goods as big, wide pieces of deep-fried dough that come out of the oil looking like the ear of an elephant. Consumers can top the dough with anything from sugar and syrup to salsa, lettuce and cheese.

“There are Elephant Ear trailers at fairs throughout the entire United States,” Musante said. “I’ve sold thousands of ears at one fair. People have waited in lines four hours long.”

Most people at her booth Saturday afternoon, though, were in line for lemonade. “Just wait until it gets dark,” Musante said. “Then the lines start up.”

For the less-discriminating palate, fairgoers could chose a myriad of entrees.

There were mile-long hot dogs, jumbo hot dogs, hot dogs on a stick and Polish sausage on a stick or in a bun. There were charburgers, -pound burgers and plain old hamburgers.

There was pizza by the slice, mini-doughnuts, hot cinnamon rolls, fresh-squeezed lemonade, ice-cold lemonade, sparkling apple cider, Sparkletts water and Hawaiian Shaved Ice.

“Oh, it’s a lot better than a snow cone,” the Hawaiian Shaved Ice lady said. “Snow cones are hard, you gotta crunch into it. This is soft. You eat it out of a bowl and we give you a spoon.”

Across the asphalt, Marie Mendrala said she is insulted when her natural fruit ices get lumped into the Hawaiian Shaved Ice and snow cone category.

‘Insulting’ Comparison

“There’s no comparison, no comparison,” Mendrala said. “Shaved ice is all artificial. We are all natural. It’s insulting to be compared to a snow cone.”

A teen-age boy interrupted Mendrala, plopped down $1 for a strawberry, and said: “Na, I don’t eat health food stuff. I just like the way this tastes.”

Harry Stutter of North Hollywood, however, was a little disappointed with his plate of Finger Steaks, bit-sized slices of meat that are breaded and deep fried.

“I’m afraid to look at the meat underneath the batter,” he said with a laugh, dunking the strip of meat in ketchup. “I was looking for meat, but this was all I could find.”