Deep-fried Kool-Aid: A 'nutritional nightmare'
Move over, deep-fried Twinkies. A sizzling version of the popular sugary Americana beverage is the latest county fair craze
posted on June 21, 2011, at 11:13 AM

Best Opinion: TIME, Death + Taxes, Gather

The video: With summertime comes state and county fairs across the country. And with those fairs comes a vast, artery-clogging assortment of fried food. The latest unlikely treat to get the deep-fryer treatment? Kool-Aid, of course. A man by the name of "Chicken" Charlie Boghosian has been selling the "nutritional nightmare" at fairs across the South, and, recently, in San Diego, Calif. How do you deep fry a liquid? Boghosian simply mixes the powdered drink with flour and water to create a bright red batter to plop into a deep fryer. (Watch a video below.) "They taste like donut holes," says Boghosian, who claims to have invented more than 100 deep-fried gut bombs, including deep fried Klondike ice cream bars, Pop Tarts, and Girl Scout cookies.

The reaction: Seeing this, I feel "equally inspired to make comments about American-style ingenuity and American-style obesity," says Katy Steinmetz at TIME. What a "perfect mix of nostalgia and grease," says Carmel Lobello at Death + Taxes. "It makes me want to vomit while reminding me of summertime and childhood." This just shows that anything has the potential to "become a wacky new fad food," says Tom Rose at Gather. The eater just has to be "willing to forego [a] long life and a healthy circulatory system." Watch an ABC News report on the unhealthy treats: