The surprise is that it took this long.
Among the new foods being proffered at this year's Minnesota Renaissance Festival is the chocolate-covered corn dog.
Mooshing together great flavors goes as far back as the onset of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, if not Elvis Presley's beloved fried peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwiches.
But slathering chocolate over something fried is a bad idea. There's a reason no one has tried to foist chocolate-covered French fries or onion rings on us, even at our fat-happy fairs. Reversing course -- putting the batter on the outside of a confection such as a Snickers bar, for example -- produces far better results.
None of it, of course, is good for us. Nutritionist Bea Krinke estimates that one choco-corn dog will contain 550 calories and 30 grams of fat. That means a guy could wolf down two of these puppies and not exceed the recommended daily fat allowance -- if he didn't eat anything else fatty that day (mmmm, celery).
It matters not that chocolate-covered corn dogs probably weren't served at Shakespeare premieres. After all, of the many reasons people head out to the Ren Fest, these two are not among them: to learn about history or to improve their health.
