Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise: The Wisconsin State Fair is all about food that's battered and fried, dipped in chocolate, stuck on a stick, or slathered in decadence.
Those who walk past the temptations may find an occasional healthy oasis of fresh fruit not dipped in chocolate, pork chops grilled instead of fried, and salads, pure and simple.
But even Dr. Vegetable near the grandstand batters and fries broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, onions, green tomatoes and sweet potatoes. Fairgoers line up to pay $6 to $7 for these vegetables coated in greasy calories. Another vendor, Krautland, this year added deep-fried green beans for $5.
"We can't make them fast enough," Krautland employee Danielle Schurman said of the deep-fried green beans. "I tell people they're getting their veggies for the day, and they love anything fried. The contrast of healthy and unhealthy seems to pull them in."
Just two days after a sobering report about obesity was released by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fair opened its 11-day run with a bevy of traditional high-calorie favorites and new hot-sellers, including a Krispy Kreme cheeseburger packing 1,000 calories.
The Machine Shed expected to sell about 3,500 salty-sweet Krispy Kreme cheeseburgers over the first three days of the fair. Roughly a fourth of the $5 burgers sandwiched between two halves of a Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut were ordered with chocolate-covered bacon for an extra buck. In contrast, a stand at the northern edge of the central mall selling fruit drinks and fresh fruit late Friday afternoon had few takers for the $3.50 fruit bowl and $1 whole fruit.
Finding fresh fruit and vegetables not fattened up with chocolate or breading is a challenge, but that's the nature of fairs, which count on novel and beloved food traditions to draw people back year after year.
"We encourage all of our vendors to offer a diverse menu," said Kristin Chuckel, public relations and communications manager for State Fair Park. "While you can find many deep-fried items here at the fair, there are also a lot of healthier alternatives, such as grilled chicken sandwiches, broiled pork chop sandwiches, fresh fruit, smoothies, grilled seafood and salads."
Several fairgoers said at the start of the weekend that they consider State Fair calories a once-a-year splurge - a chance to experience unique or wacky foods they probably won't find anywhere else. The parade of calories adds up quickly, as fairgoers are surrounded by high-calorie favorites at 178 food booths that stretch across the fairgrounds.
"We get all the food groups in all the fattening ways we can find," quipped Gary Bakker of New Berlin, who was at the fair with his wife, Connie, daughter, Brianna, and her friend Lincoln McDonald of Australia.
They started with a lean protein (butterfly pork chop sandwich), then worked up to vegetables (buttered, roasted corn on the cob and a baked potato), dairy (cream puff), fruit (chocolate-covered strawberries and apple squares), and more vegetables (deep-fried cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini and onions). Another protein (chocolate-covered bacon) was still on Brianna's to-eat list.
"I'll eat fruit tomorrow. I can get that at home," Connie Bakker said. "We don't eat like this normally. We eat pretty healthy."
At least one in four adult fairgoers probably couldn't say the same, according to national statistics.
)
C'mon over! 
I'll stick to chips (your fries) and onion rings 
