Fringe Festival 2024: Feasting at Fringe Fest!

Another Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival has come and gone and for eleven days all I did was see shows (I saw 22 this year!!) and hang around on the Fringe grounds. And that means FOOD! You had better believe that the largest, longest running Fringe Theatre Festival in North America is going to be able to feed you. The iconic green onion cakes are a must (I ate six this year!!) but there is so much else as well. There's no time like the present to start planning what you're going to feast upon next year!

Here are the foods that I ate at the festival this year:

Green Onion Cake from YEG Green Onion Cakes ($8.00) As always, green onion cakes are a key component to achieving Fringe success. You must eat at least one... But probably more. The good news is that they had sambal hot sauce again this year! (There was a shortage last year and I had to bring my own from home.) The bad news is that in the last few days of the festival they seemed to run out of the good brand of sambal (made by Huy Fong Foods) and started serving an off-brand type. You can really taste the difference because it isn't the same at all. Regardless, the first bite into one of these legendary cakes after a year away always fills my soul with joy every time.

Fish Balls from Filistix ($9.00)

"Most popular Filipino street food." Deep fried white fish fritter skewers, sweet chili dipping sauce. I am so thrilled that Filistix is back for another year because they have quickly become my favourite food at the festival! Their Filipino flavours are big and delicious! These fish balls were no exception. Fun and easy to eat, the tender fish was cooked beautifully and tasted great in the dipping sauce.

Kyoto Matcha Specialty Milk Tea, Mascarpone Tiramisu Latte Specialty Milk Tea, and Ferrero Rocher Specialty Milk Tea from Bestea Bubble Tea ($10.00 each) I tried three different drinks from them and they were all very delicious. Bubble tea on the Fringe grounds is awesome. However, this year all of the cups were opaque and for some reason not being able to see the contents really took me out of the whole experience. I definitely prefer my bubble tea in a clear cup so that I can see all of the magic inside! The Mascarpone Tiramisu Latte was great if you want a fun coffee option. But my overall favourite was still the Ferrero Rocher because it really tasted like the chocolates. YUM!

Shrimp & Pork Dumplings "Siomai" from Filistix ($8.00)

Crispy dumplings served with citrus chili oil. THESE WERE AMAZING! Maybe my favourite thing from the whole festival! So tender and juicy and delicious! I loved the unique crispy dumpling wrapper. I loved the spicy chili oil. Fantastic! I noticed that these were sold out a few times, so they were definitely popular.

Lentil Sambusa from Langano Skies Ethiopian Food ($4.00) I have always loved the lentil sambusas at Langano Skies a lot, so I'm always sure to grab one at the fest. A great portable snack, I'm obsessed with the garlicy lentil filling and the crispy pastry.

Chicha from Chocolate Covered Bananas ($4.00)

Still one of my favourite drinks on the grounds, this Peruvian corn punch is unique. First of all, it's purple. It's unlike anything else that you can buy to drink and it's totally worth a try!

Pork Belly Fries from Filistix ($13.00)

Fries topped with roasted and diced pork belly, red onion, banana peppers, chili mayo. WOW! What a flavour bomb!! These fries were excellent and perfect to share. I liked that the pork belly was cooked really well and was quite crispy. There was tons of spicy heat that I enjoyed a lot. I'll say it again; Filistix is the best thing to happen to the Fringe Festival food roster in a long time.

Aglio e Oilio Pasta from Spaghetti Cone Food Truck ($13.00) Olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes + parmesan. You probably didn't know that you needed spaghetti in cone form, but you do. It's actually a pretty genius way to eat pasta at a festival. I've been trying different ones each year and this time was the oily one. I liked it! It wasn't too much. The flavours were simple and well-balanced. Next year I want to get the Meatball Marinara one!

Truffle and All Dressed Tera Fries from Potato Corner ($15.00) A new addition this year, I was pretty impressed by these tasty fries! Firstly, they had eleven different flavours to choose from - they all sounded good! The flavouring fully coats the fries really well. I liked that you could choose two different flavours in the Tera size. And the fries themselves were really good! They reminded me a bit of McDonald's fries and who doesn't love those?? This was fun and I hope to see them back!

Tiger's Blood Lemonade from Lemon Heaven ($4.50 for small) Lemonade at the Fringe is a classic. Although this has gone up in price by 50¢ since last year and I think that they used less flavour syrup. The colour was a lot paler compared to what it usually is. There are lots of flavours to choose from but my favourite is the strawberry coconut "tiger's blood." It was yet another wonderful and memorable Fringe! I love being an active participant of this festival and supporting as much as I can. See you next August for more green onion cakes!