Mmm... deep fried and healthful foods at the county fair

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County fairs offer a whole lot of wholesome family fun, as well as some of the most heinously unhealthful food you’ll ever encounter in your life: deep fried candy bars, deep fried Oreos, deep fried soda. If it can be battered and submerged in oil, people will probably eat it.

But with many of us trying to curtail our cholesterol, indulging at the fair isn’t the guiltless free-for-all it once was. That’s why you’ll find more healthful choices at concession stands, a change that’s been happening for the last several years, and a trend also at stadiums, ballparks and theme parks.

This year’s Orange County Fair (July 10 through Aug. 9) introduces a few new foods that aren’t as hazardous as the fried stuff: a grilled fish bowl, smoked albacore and a tofu veggie bowl. The new kids on the block join such established healthful fair foods as fresh berries, roasted corn on the cob (minus the butter, of course), steamed artichokes, and a baked potato with broccoli and grilled chicken breast. The Los Angeles County Fair has its share of funnel cakes and the like, but also offers grilled vegetables, salads and fresh fruit.

So is it wrong to associate fairs with only fatty, artery-clogging, calorie-laden foods?

‘I will claim that the fair has to take some responsibility for that,’ says Steve Beazley, president and chief executive of the OC Fair & Event Center. ‘We push the new, novelty food -- that’s by design. We like to entice people with something they’ve never had before. But the second message is, try a bite of that, and then try an ear of corn. Everything in moderation.’

We have to say we couldn’t agree more with his philosophy. A few years ago we attended a county fair, and high on the agenda was stuffing our face with forbidden foods because, when in Rome, right? Let’s just say it wasn’t the best decision we’ve ever made.

Beazley says the fair also sponsors two 5K runs, which ups the healthy factor even more. When choosing concessions for the fair, he adds, ‘we try to do a mix and a blend, and present an overall balanced menu for the fair.’

Which is why there will always be yin to the yang. In this case, at the Orange County Fair those tofu veggie bowls will be offset by -- are you sitting down? -- chocolate-covered bacon. Better sign up for those 5K runs.

-Jeannine Stein