The Dish: A day at the Ex, a year on the hips
September 3, 2010
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Megan Ogilvie
HEALTH REPORTER
Tell any Torontonian you’re heading to the CNE and they’ll talk longingly of Tiny Tom donuts or have a Pavlovian response to memories of meat on a stick.
More than the concerts, the air show or the stomach-turning tumbles of the midway, it’s the siren call of the food kiosks that lure most of us to the CNE.
With only three days remaining, crowds of people will surely stampede to the Ex grounds for a last dash through the food building and to the surrounding concession stands to scoop up carnival fare before it leaves town.
As a public service, the Star has sent four perennial favourites and this year’s headline grabbing deep-fried butter to find out how many calories and how much fat and sodium they contain.
On their own, sweets like the ice cream waffle sandwich aren’t so bad.
But if you consume all five foods in one trek to the CNE — something easily done — be prepared to suffer the caloric consequences.
Just what do you get when you eat one dozen Tiny Tom donuts, an order of deep-fried butter, an ice cream waffle sandwich, a hand-dipped corndog and a bag of cotton candy? A whopping 2,078 calories, 95 grams of fat and 2,813 mg of sodium.
According to registered dietitian Carol Harrison, the 2,978 calories is the equivalent to eating three foot-long roast beef subs from Subway or all eight slices of a medium sized bacon double cheeseburger pizza from Pizza Pizza.
The 95 grams of fat found in the five treats is the same as 3 ½ large boxes of McDonald’s French fries, she says. While the 2,813 mg of sodium is more salt than your body requires in a day.
“One food or one day’s food choices won’t make or break a healthy diet,” Harrison says. “If you do end up indulging, don’t beat yourself up. You can always take the next few days to balance things out.”
Well, until the next time the CNE comes to town.
Deep-fried butter
$5 for four balls
Serving size: 90 grams
Calories: 315
Fat: 18 grams
Sodium: 333 mg
Protein: 4 grams
Carbohydrates: 35 grams
This year, the food buzz has been all about the deep-fried butter — a ghastly or heavenly concoction, depending on whether you are a coronary surgeon or food connoisseur — that has drawn two-hour lineups to the modest Sweet Treats hut near the Princes’ Gates.
“This is just so wrong,” says Sandy after picking up her order.
“We’ve heard this is amazing,” adds her daughter, Natalie, as she spears a chocolate smeared ball with a toothpick.
“It can’t,” she says, popping it into her mouth, “be very good for you.”
Well, of course it’s not.
But you might be surprised that a butter ball coated in funnel cake batter and plunged into a burbling vat of hot grease has the same amount of fat and about 12 fewer calories than a sour cream glazed timbit.
A professional’s advice? “Try it, so you can say that you did,” says registered dietitian Shannon Crocker. “But get one order and split it between four friends. Then move on. Preferably not to the deep-fried corndog stand.”
Candy floss from a midway candy concession stand
$5 for a bag containing one poof of blue and one poof of pink
Serving size: 85 grams
Calories: 335
Fat: 0.34 grams
Sodium: 0
Protein: 0.7 grams
Carbohydrates: 82 grams
“Parents get caught up in the nostalgia of cotton candy,” says Crocker. “You would never hand your kid a bowl of sugar with a spoon as a treat. That’s what this is, 82 grams of pure sugar plus food colouring. That’s about 20 tsp of sugar.
“It’s pretty. It’s pink. But it really is just the same as a bowl of sugar.”
Hand-dipped corndog from a midway concession stand
$6.50 for the jumbo size
Serving size: 241 grams
Calories: 757
Fat: 49 grams
Sodium: 1,615 mg
Protein: 21 grams
Carbohydrates: 58 grams
The bright yellow kiosk sells thousands of hand-dipped corn dogs a day.
“Yeah, we have lineups,” said the young man presiding over a neat pile of corn dogs warming under the red glow of a heat lamp.
These are not prepackaged pogos. Rather, this midway treat is a hot dog on a stick that’s been dipped in cornmeal batter then freshly fried.
Registered dietitian Zannat Reza says the highly processed food has no redeeming qualities — except taste for its fans.
“Limit yourself to one of these if you must have one,” she says, noting the 1,615 mg of sodium is all the salt your body needs in a day. “You’re better off having a plain hot dog.”
One dozen Tiny Tom Donuts
$5 per dozen
Serving size: 110 grams
Calories: 440
Fat: 19 grams
Sodium: 495 mg
Protein: 6 grams
Carbohydrates: 62 grams
This is the 50th year people have been lining up for hot out of the fryer Tiny Tom donuts. Tradition, the watch-while-you-wait appeal and their warm freshness draws people to the booth.
While Tom would encourage you to eat lots of hot donuts — a sign proclaims “Buy 3 dozen and get a 4th dozen FREE!” — registered dietitian Carol Harrison urges CNE goers to share the love.
“Be nice. Share them. It’s really just the first few you really enjoy anyhow.”
Ice Cream Waffle Sandwich
$3.50
Serving size: 112 grams
Calories: 231
Fat: 8.5 grams
Sodium: 370 mg
Protein: 3 grams
Carbohydrates: 35 grams
Touted as the “original CNE hot waffles” this is tasty simplicity: a warm waffle, a hand-cut slice of vanilla ice cream wrapped with little ceremony in a thin paper napkin.
“It’s wonderful,” gushes an elderly woman, too busy eating to provide her name. “I get this every year when I come. And, look at it me, you can tell I’ve been coming many, many years.”
This happy snacker is making a reasonable choice, says registered dietitian Zannat Reza: “This was a lot lower in calories than I expected. I would go for this one.”