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Come Fan with UsThursday, August 6, 2026

FOOD QUIZ: Are these 22 fried creations real or fake State Fair of Texas dishes that could be eaten at Texas vs. Oklahoma?

The Sooners and Longhorns play on Saturday (noon ET, FOX). Decide which of these foods are real and which are not.

Fried peanut butter and jelly and banana sandwiches.
Fried peanut butter and jelly and banana sandwiches.
Fried peanut butter and jelly and banana sandwiches.
Flickr user ladybugbkt, Creative Commons

The Red River Rivalry (or Shootout, or Showdown, or whatever) resumes on Saturday. Please take this FOOD QUIZ to determine which foods are legitimate dishes from past State Fairs of Texas and which ones are things we’ve made up to trick you.

Here are 22 dishes that sound like they could be served at the State Fair of Texas.

Which ones have been real Big Tex 2005-2018 candidates and which did we make up? May the calories be ever in your favor.

(Note: if this quiz below isn’t showing right here on your device, try removing the Google Amp text from the website address and reloading.)

The mixture of football and fried food is virtually always a good thing.

And there may be no better combination of the two than the annual Red River Rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma and the coinciding State Fair of Texas fried food extravaganza.

Much of it comes from the annual Big Tex Choice Awards, a competition in which chefs vie to, among other things, fry unusual stuff. The contest’s winners are announced in August, and a lot of the food winds up being served at the State Fair. That gives Longhorns and Sooners fans a chance to have better pregame food at the Cotton Bowl this Oct. 14 than just about any other fans.

Some of the dishes are wild in name and execution, and we very much would like to eat some of them.

More on 2018’s lineup is here, but no cheating.

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