What's your favorite RAGBRAI food?

On Sunday, RAGBRAI posed a question on their Facebook page that got me reminiscing. “Name your favorite food during RAGBRAI”. I opened the feed to see if some of my favorites were listed. Here’s what I found:

At least half of the 230 some odd answers were “Beer”… or “Liquid Bread” as one fan put it. That counts as carb-loading right?

Beer is an obvious choice. But I was looking for content. Pure, unadulterated gluttony. I was thinking about the best breakfast and must-stop lunch spots from my childhood, and wondering if anyone remembered a long-lost favorite.

So without further adieu, here are my top 5 RAGBRAI foods:

5. Blue Bunny ice cream bars: I remember stopping in the middle of a scorching July day to hug some poor intern who was dressed as the Blue Bunny and get a chocolate dipped ice cream bar. It was the highlight of my summer. Forget Cinderella and Disney World, this rabbit was a celebrity in my book. Plus he gave me ice cream…

4. Corn on the cob: This one’s obvious. We all do our part to fertilize the fields (hey, there aren’t always Kybos). So we deserve to indulge in some butter-drenched cobs of corn.

3. Turkey Tom’s Tenderloins: This was my lunch, every day. No need to even ask what I wanted. I would be content with this oversized patty of breaded meat on a tiny bun. (anyone ever notice that a kid’s tenderloin is the same size patty with a smaller bun?) This was a popular Facebook favorite too. I’m in good company.

2. Chris Cakes Pancakes: Another fan fav. Chris (that’s what I call everyone who work’s at Chris’s Cakes) is making cakes in a frenzy and tossing them to whoever can catch-um. You don’t have to stand in line for long if you’ve got good hands. They literally THROW the pancakes at you. If, however, you can’t catch… You not only let down your father, you have to stand in line till the front.

1. Orange sherbet served in the orange peel: This is my Holy Grail. I remember eating it on hot days during RAGBRAI, but no one else remembers them. It’s like that doll I had as a kid that I SWEAR had a yellow striped jumpsuit, but we found it a few years ago and it had a blue jumpsuit… My mom say’s I’m crazy and that it’s always been blue. But I know, in my tiny child eyes, that dress was YELLOW. Anyway, the sherbet… It’s just a scoop of orange sherbet in one half of an orange peel. Spoon-less deliciousness. I’m going to be on the hunt this year for this little gem.

Those are my favorites. And while searching my mind-archives for my favorites, I stumbled across my least favorite palate memory of early RAGBRAI days: Powerbars. Blech.

Follow RAGBRAI on Facebook at facebook.com/RAGBRAI

I had to laugh at this page when I stumbled upon it:

A little RAGBRAI humor: http://www.wadenelson.com/kybo.html