Judging by the amount of bacon at the Indiana State Fair, I would think pork prices might be doing a bit better. I have never see so many things wrapped in bacon, stuffed with bacon or having bacon added to them.

The ultimate (for me) was a cheese sandwich wrapped in about eight slices of bacon and then grilled until the bacon was crispy. Certainly an artery-clogger, but boy was it delicious. It seems that people used to go to fairs to see the animals and the prize vegetables; my group of friends now goes to the fair to eat.

One of my friends went to the fair three times just so he could try all the different foods he had seen. I sent him on a journey to try the dill pickle stuffed with a hot dog and then dipped in corndog batter and fried. He only gave it two stars out of four, saying the top had too much of a corndog batter versus hotdog/pickle ratio, and the center had a better bite of the hotdog and pickle but not enough of the corndog batter.

Then there was the inside-out grilled cheese sandwich, in which the cheese was on the outside and the bread was in the center and it was deep fat-fried.

I had a buffalo burger wrapped in lettuce (my nod to try to eat fewer calories at one sitting, so I could eat more food in the long run). It was from a food truck that uses Indiana-raised buffalo. Judging by the lines of hungry customers, buffalo was super popular.

I always have to stop by the Dairy Barn, but at the last minute I decided to not eat the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich, which sounded delicious. I instead just got a chocolate milkshake.

I had been holding out for the bacon-wrapped grilled cheese. Unfortunately, by the time I drank the milkshake and walked to the food truck selling the bacon-wrapped grilled cheese sandwich, I was hot and not that hungry. I settled for eating a few bites from the sandwich one of my friends purchased.

I did end my day as usual at the Indiana Pork Producers tent and grabbed four pork burgers to go. I took those home and ate them for dinner and lunch the next day. I love pork burgers; nothing delighted me more than when I discovered I could buy pork burgers from the local locker plant.

Luckily, the state fairgrounds are huge and require a lot of walking if you want to visit all the food stands and actually see the livestock and the prize vegetables. I always enjoy looking at the biggest pig and the sow and litters … although I felt a bit guilty munching on a bacon-covered sandwich while looking at the cute little piglets.

At least I burned off some of the calories I ate as I walked around the fairgrounds.

As the various state fairs wind down, I hope you were able to visit. They are always a great place to meet friends and see amazing things, and eat food your cardiologist won’t be recommending anytime soon.