Iowa
From caviar nuggets to bison, 10 new Iowa State Fair food trends
‘MasterChef’ winner and son rate 2025 Iowa State Fair foods
‘MasterChef’ Grant Gillon and his son Grady decide once and for all which is the best 2025 Iowa State Fair dish.
Summer at the Iowa State Fair has always been a celebration of Iowa’s appetite for fun, flavor and a little bit of culinary chaos.
On July 7, the Iowa State Fair revealed 84 new dishes served at the 200-plus food stands on the fairgrounds. And while the fair has always had an appetite for foods on a stick, novelty creations and glorious gut busters, the 2026 lineup pushes that spirit further than ever.
This year’s new foods reflect a fair in full technicolor: patriotic desserts exploding with red‑white‑and‑blue pride, global flavors stretching from Hawaii to Vietnam and over‑the‑top creations engineered for the camera as much as the palate. Strawberries dominate the sweets scene, butter becomes a starring ingredient and bison quietly emerges as the protein of the moment. Even classic comfort foods get a modern remix, whether wrapped in frybread, dipped in chocolate or topped with jalapeño heat.
Together, these dishes tell a story of a fair that’s evolving into louder, brighter and more playful dishes while still rooted in Iowa’s love of indulgence, nostalgia and big summer flavor. Here are the 10 trends defining the 2026 Iowa State Fair.
Hyper‑patriotic foods take over
This year, the Iowa State Fair celebrates America’s 250th birthday with a patriotic Fair Spirit theme that includes a massive 250-flag display, a “Spirit of ’76” historical exhibit, nightly drone shows and special events, as well as an official America 250 Tree and the Iowa Veterans Memorial Walkway on Expo Hill.
The State Fair’s 250th‑anniversary theme shows up everywhere, especially in desserts. Red‑white‑and‑blue sprinkles, flag toppers and “1776” branding dominate the fairgrounds.
Look for 1776 Dubai strawberries, dipped in a rich, creamy pistachio-tahini paste and crunchy toasted kataifi (shredded phyllo pastry) for $19 from The Strawberry Station. The Dairy Zone offers patriotic nachos, a sweet treat with waffle chips and vanilla ice cream, drizzled with cherry and blue raspberry dips, topped with whipped cream and festive red, white and blue star sprinkles for $10.
Bubbly Bar has Parmesan ice cream, a nod to an 18th-century sensation that combines the rich, nutty flavor of aged Parmesan with smooth, creamy ice cream. Bubbly layers in tart cherry and buttery pound cake for a Revolutionary-era treat for $14.
Over the Top goes patriotic with Sweet Americana, featuring strawberry shortcake, lemon bar and blueberry crisp ice creams, each topped with a shortcake cookie, a lemon bar square and chocolate-covered blueberries for $13.
Another sweet dish, the Star Spangled Frybread, comes with a sweet glaze, topped with festive red, white and blue sprinkles and finished with a light dusting of powdered sugar from Its Dough Time for $12.
On the savory side of the menu, Blue Ribbon Bar & Eatery has the 1776 Liberty Bowl with a sourdough bread bowl loaded with cheese curds, French fries and slow-roasted shredded beef, all smothered in gravy and topped with hand-breaded onion rings. Try it for $15.
This is the most overtly patriotic menu the fair has produced in years.
Chocolate‑covered everything
Chocolate is the year’s dominant sweet, whether it’s poured, drizzled, dipped or smothered.
Try Belgian chocolate-covered strawberries from The Strawberry Station for $17 or an affogato, an espresso ice cream drink drizzled with chocolate (or caramel), at the Biscuit Bar for $8.
The Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association slathers its Strawberry Bliss in chocolate. A buttery shortbread cookie comes topped with a strawberry and a cloud of meringue. The entire creation is covered in milk chocolate, drizzled with white chocolate and finished with a sprinkle of fresh-cut strawberries. Try it for $8.
Chocolate + fruit + spectacle is a clear 2026 signature.
Sweet‑heat mashups
Spicy‑sweet combos are bigger, bolder and more chaotic than ever.
Make your dessert fiery with the Firecracker Churros from Applishus with Lola’s jalapeno and habanero pepper spice sauce, honey molasses and sugar topped with an apple butter and cream cheese dip for $10.
Maybe one of the craziest concoctions at the fair is the Cajun Cluck ’N’ Chaos, a Cajun-style chicken sloppy joe with crunchy sweet pepper coleslaw and fiery spicy pickles topped with a skewer stacked with a tangy pickled egg and extra pickles, finished with a cloud of lime-infused pickle cotton candy. It all comes on a brioche bun at Cluckin’ Coop for $14.
Cowboy Candy from Stockman’s Inn brings sweet and spicy breaded jalapenos for $5.
Whatcha’ Smokin BBQ returns with Star Spangled Swine with pork belly with an apple chipotle rub and Big Red soda glaze rolled in blue and white honey crystals for $15.
While this trend marks a continuation of the fair’s love affair with spicy‑sweet combos, this year they’re more extreme.
Cheese goes maximalist
Cheese isn’t a garnish — it’s the headliner in 2026, with dishes with the dairy product as the main event.
Start with America’s “Berry” Good Grilled Cheese from What’s Your Cheez for $16. It combines several trends with a sweet and savory grilled cheese made with caramelized brioche bread, stuffed with blueberry white cheddar, layered with tart raspberry amaretto jam and blueberry bourbon jam, then stuffed with crispy candied pork belly that has a touch of sweet heat. Patriotic, sweet and savory, maximalist and cheesy all in one dish.
Cheese takes center stage with the Mozza‑Tini from DG – Destination Grille for $10. These hand-breaded gluten-free mozzarella sticks come with warm vodka sauce, jalapeno ranch drizzle and fresh parsley. Spicy and sweet come together with cheese.
The garlic dill pickle cheese curds from Brad & Harry’s Cheese Curds for $9 combine the food stand’s two most popular flavors, garlic and dill pickle.
Strawberries are the star fruit
Strawberries appear in more new food dishes than any other fruit. Often, they are paired with chocolate or patriotic themes.
The 1776 Dubai Strawberries at The Strawberry Station, the Strawberry Bliss at the Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association and Sweet Americana at Over the Top are just some of the dishes offered at the fair.
This mirrors national trends. Strawberries are having a moment.
Global fusion expands
Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Salvadoran and Mexican influences make this the fair’s most international menu yet.
New dishes include Saigon birria pupusa from Saigonais Cuisine for $10. A pupusa comes filled with pho-braised brisket and melted cheese, served with a hoisin birria consommé for dipping. “Just as Iowa’s heritage has been built by generations of people bringing their own stories and traditions to the table, the Saigon birria pupusa brings Salvadoran, Vietnamese and Mexican flavors together in one dish. It is a tribute to the fair spirit — a celebration of unity, heritage and the American tradition of creating something greater together,” the fair said of the dish.
A taste of Hawaii brings spam musubi to Kama’aina Grill for $5. This fusion food combines American spam with Japanese musubi (rice ball) techniques. The stand also has Kama’aina Bento for $23. The plate lunch from Hawaii features teriyaki beef, fried saimin noodles, spam or garlic chicken served with rice and macaroni salad.
Bao Bao’s Tanghulu brings tanghulu, a Chinese street food of candied fruit on a stick, for $12.
GoldenKDog brought Korean hot dogs to the fair in 2025. This year, they introduced the Cinnamozza Kdog, a mozzarella cheese Korean corn dog dunked in salted butter, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and topped with Cinnamon Toast Crunch for $18.
Dessert spectacle rules
Desserts are bigger, brighter and built for social media. These over-the-top dishes are shareable, both with another person and on Instagram.
Oreo Overload Nachos from Dairy Zone for $10 start with waffle chips piled around vanilla ice cream, hot fudge topped with crushed Oreo cookies for dipping and whipped cream. Dairy Zone suggested dipping the waffle chips into the sundae.
The deep-fried cookie dough pie from Minneapple Pie comes with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream for $12.
The walking taco goes dessert-style with the walkin’ Oreo sundae for $9 from Wonder Bars.
If combining savory and sweet is your thing, try the Ultimate Bacon-Brisket Mac & Cheese Donut. The $7 snack from The Rib Shack starts with mac and cheese loaded with bacon and brisket that’s breaded in a cake-style coating and finished with a sweet barbecue glaze. Not enough? It’s topped with chopped brisket and garnished with a slice of fresh jalapeno. You can nab six for $30.
Dessert nachos, dessert doughnuts and dessert frybread add up to the fair pushing “dessert as spectacle.”
Bison and pork dominate the protein scene
The Iowa Pork Producers lead the way with pork dishes at the Iowa State Fair. The fair estimates it sells 46-50,000 of its famous Pork Chop on a Stick during the 11-day event. But save room for some new riffs on pork that appear in 2026, including the Porky Pileup at the Stockman’s Inn for $15. The dish features fries layered with pulled barbecue pork, mac n’ cheese and cowboy beans topped with bacon bits.
Kalua pork appears at Kama’aina Grill as a plate lunch with rice and macaroni salad for $18, as well as in a poke bowl for $23.
DG – Destination Grille has the Porky Parm Gnocchi, a gluten-free potato gnocchi and Graziano sausage tossed in a house-made AE cream Parmesan sauce with a pesto drizzle and shaved Parmesan, all topped with an America 250th year flag and a souvenir piggy pal for $14. Note that everything at DG – Destination Grille is gluten-free.
Bison, though, is emerging as the breakout starring protein. Newcomer Sleepy Bison Grill has a bison burger for $13, a bison cheesesteak slider for $11 and bison nachos for $14.
Butter becomes a flavor
The Iowa State Fair is famous for its Butter Cow made with approximately 600 pounds of low-moisture, pure cream Iowa butter. In 2011, the fair turned food media on its collective head with the deep-fried butter on a stick from concessionaire Larry Fyfe. The indulgent dish featured frozen butter dipped in honey-cinnamon batter, deep-fried and topped with a powdered sugar glaze.
In 2026, butter is a micro-trend, with the butter-dipped ice cream cone from Coney Corner for $6 that swaps out chocolate for a buttery hard shell encasing vanilla soft serve.
That Cinnamozza Kdog comes with a salted butter dunk. And buttery desserts feature shortcake, pound cake and even Biscoff cookie butter cheesecake funnel cake from McGrath’s Funnel Cakes for $15.
Chaos foods define the fair
Maximalist, hybrid, over‑the‑top creations are now a fair signature, and the new dishes in 2026 do not disappoint. The Cajun Cluck ’N’ Chaos at Cluckin’ Coop and Ultimate Bacon‑Brisket Mac & Cheese Donut at The Rib Shack certainly fall into that category.
One of the most expensive dishes at the Iowa State Fair brings caviar and chicken nuggets from JR’s SouthPork Ranch for $99 that blends childhood nostalgia with pure luxury. JR’s calls it “a little bit county fair, a little bit Champagne lifestyle and 100% conversation starter.” Coqodaq, a Korean-inspired fried chicken restaurant in New York, served this dish during the 2025 U.S. Open, and McDonald’s followed with a Valentine’s Day special that combined McNuggets with caviar. Now, the trend hits Iowa.
Sign up for our dining newsletter, Table Talk DSM, which comes out on Wednesday mornings with all the latest news on restaurants and bars in the metro. You can sign up for free at DesMoinesRegister.com/tabletalk.
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) — Iowa Head Start programs serving thousands of low-income children are waiting to learn the full impact of a sweeping federal overhaul proposed by the Trump administration.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week announced major changes to the program’s performance standards. If finalized, the proposal would shift regulation of Head Start from the federal government to individual states, affecting areas including nutrition standards, class sizes, teacher-to-student ratios, staff background checks, and parent input requirements.
Iowa’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs currently serve over 5,000 children statewide.
Under the proposal, children would be required to follow HHS’s Make America Healthy Again guidelines for meal times, which include serving fresh whole foods and 30 minutes of physical activity for every three and a half hours. The plan would also change teacher-to-student ratios, resulting in larger class sizes, and would require English to be the only language used in the classroom, with an exception for tribal communities.
Drake University’s Head Start program, which serves more than 900 children and maintains a waitlist, could expand its 4-year-old classrooms to 24 students for two teachers under Iowa licensing rules. The program’s current ratio is one teacher for every eight students.
Lisa Proctor, director of Drake University’s Head Start program, said student safety is a central concern.
“When we really look at our ratios, student safety is a huge concern and supervision of students at this age, which is why those lower ratios are really important for individualization. We are often the first experience for a lot of students in these new environments,” Proctor said.
Proctor also noted potential financial implications of the changes.
“The proposed rule making does not obviously — it doesn’t directly reduce our current award or funding level. But yes, there could be some fiscal implication,” Proctor said.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the changes will save $2 billion and open nearly 300,000 new slots for children in the program nationwide.
“We’re cutting that back to 5%. And the savings, which should be about $2.2 billion, we’re reinvesting in Head Start so that facilities like this can start servicing their waiting lists and bringing all these kids that want to get into this program into it,” Kennedy said.
Executive Director of the Iowa Head Start Association Chris Juett said the group is not yet commenting on the specifics of the proposal but said the program must still be able to serve children.
“What we’re saying is that we want to ensure that the proposed standards ensure that we are continuing to be able to provide services for children and their families moving forward,” Juett said.
Proctor is urging the public to engage with the process.
“Our goal is to really engage with the community with supporters and ask that others raise their voice if they’re willing and speak to how Head Start matters in their community, how it may have impacted them personally or their communities,” Proctor said.
HHS is accepting public comment for the next two months before the department finalizes the overhaul. Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement that the state is currently reviewing the proposed rule changes.
Programs will have the choice to continue operating for some regulations as they currently do if it works for their community’s needs. Advocates say parents should know the program is still running and that there are no reductions to federal funding at this time.
—
Isabella Warren covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email her at isabella.warren@kcrg.com; and follow her on Facebook at Isabella Warren TV on X/Twitter@isabellaw_gray, and on Instagram@IsabellaWarrenTV.
Copyright 2026 Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau. All rights reserved.
Investing in Medicaid Fraud Control Unit staff is one of the best bargains in government.
Iowa Medicaid fraud task force is a sham, ex-officials say | Opinion
Iowa needs to make the most of existing tools to battle Medicaid fraud before making a public show of a new task force, two former officials argue.
With the 2026 election approaching, Gov. Kim Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird have unveiled a new priority: cracking down on Medicaid fraud. That comes as a big surprise to those of us who know the system and have actually fought Medicaid fraud.
Why such a surprise? Because our governor and attorney general have long disregarded the most effective tools already at their disposal to fulfill their pronounced objective. The real purpose of their newly created “Medicaid Fraud Elimination Task Force,” unveiled with considerable fanfare, appears to be generating political headlines rather than meaningful results. And, with each new task force meeting streamed to the public, they have concocted a pretext for sustained Medicaid fraud political theater.
For decades, like every other state, Iowa has maintained a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, or MFCU. Ours is housed within the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL), formerly the Department of Inspections and Appeals. By law, this specialized unit investigates Medicaid provider fraud, patient abuse, neglect, and the financial exploitation of vulnerable Iowans. It works closely with county attorneys and the U.S. attorneys’ offices, which prosecute many of the state’s largest Medicaid fraud and health care fraud cases.
One would have expected that during the task force’s first meeting, the director of DIAL and the director of the MFCU, both members of the task force, would have reminded the chair, Bird, of one simple fact: Iowa already has the legal framework, an established Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, with strong federal, state and local partnerships needed to combat Medicaid fraud.
If Bird is now serious about combating Medicaid fraud, she should begin by fulfilling the responsibilities already assigned to her under Iowa law. The Iowa False Claims Act, Chapter 685 of the Iowa Code, provides that the “attorney general shall diligently investigate” violations of the Act and bring appropriate actions. Enacted in 2010, the Iowa False Claims Act remains one of the state’s most effective tools for recovering taxpayer dollars lost through Medicaid fraud. Rather than chairing a task force, the attorney general should aggressively enforce the law she’s already been directed to implement.
Required public reporting by Bird regarding her required False Claims Act efforts reveals a dearth of action.
One area where the False Claims Act requires immediate pursuit is the quality of care provided by taxpayer-funded, for-profit nursing homes. When facilities accept millions of public dollars and profit while failing to provide legally required care, both taxpayers and vulnerable residents suffer. Yet, in 2024, Bird led a coalition of Republican attorneys general challenging the federal minimum nursing home staffing standards rule (a rule researched to save thousands of lives). Her opposition to those standards, together with other state policy decisions, has coincided with Iowa experiencing a higher rate of nursing home staffing violations than neighboring states.
Iowa’s state auditor also plays an essential role in identifying waste, fraud, and abuse. It is difficult to understand why Auditor Rob Sand was not invited to participate on a task force supposedly dedicated to protecting taxpayer dollars — or perhaps it is not difficult to understand at all. Rather than limiting the auditor’s ability to conduct independent oversight, Reynolds and Bird should welcome rigorous audits and public reporting that strengthen accountability throughout Iowa’s Medicaid program.
Further, regarding the actually appointed members of the task force, instead of seating Iowa’s money-making Managed Care Organizations, Iowa should be demanding detailed reports on their fraud detection systems, payment integrity programs, provider audits, and other MCO efforts to prevent improper Medicaid payments. Accountability — not another task force — is what protects taxpayers.
Our perspectives come from firsthand experience. Kevin Techau served as United States attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, where he worked alongside the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and federal investigators to prosecute health care fraud. Earlier, he served as Director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, overseer of MFCU, and later as commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Dean Lerner served for 16 years as an Iowa assistant attorney general and thereafter, for nearly a decade, as deputy director and then director of the Department of Inspections and Appeals. He, likewise, oversaw Iowa’s MFCU. Later, he served as the Northern District’s Health Care Fraud Specialist.
We know firsthand that Iowa already possesses the legal authority and strong federal, state, and local partnerships needed to effectively combat Medicaid fraud. What’s been missing is this administration’s true commitment to that effort.
The warning signs of this lack of total commitment have been evident for years. In 2022, the federal Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General issued its multi-year Inspection Report of Iowa’s MFCU, finding “… that the unit did not maintain staffing levels in accordance with its approved budget, maintained low staffing levels in relation to State Medicaid expenditures, and experienced significant turnover of investigators and high caseloads.”
MFCU staffing is measured by several criteria: whether it is in accordance with the MFCU’s budget, its relationship to the state’s Medicaid expenditures, turnover, and caseloads are among the factors. Iowa’s then-DIA Director Larry Johnson responded to the OIG report on June 7, 2022, stating that Iowa’s nine employees, with two vacant investigator positions, “… are adequate at this time to operate effectively and efficiently.”
In 2024, investigative reporter Clark Kauffman discussed this report and noted that “federal data indicates Iowa’s staffing issue dates back several years,” adding: “Although Iowa’s unit was approved for 11 employees in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, it actually employed seven or eight individuals at the end of each of those years.”
“Even if all of the vacant positions were filled, the inspector general reported, the Iowa unit’s staffing levels remained low compared to all other fraud-control units in the nation,” Kauffman reported.
In 2025, according to the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, Iowa spent just $1.3 million on its 10-person fraud unit while overseeing a Medicaid program exceeding $8.7 billion. Arkansas, with a similarly sized Medicaid program, invested approximately $3.9 million in its 23-person fraud unit. Kansas employed 16 staff members and spent approximately $2.2 million to oversee its Medicaid program of roughly $6.5 billion. It doesn’t take a task force to know that proper staffing will yield maximum results. Iowa’s excuses are just that: excuses.
Medicaid Fraud Control Units investigate providers who bill for services never performed, create phantom patients, up-code claims, perform unnecessary procedures, commit pharmacy and home health fraud, engage in kickback schemes, or abuse and neglect vulnerable Medicaid recipients. Cases are developed through whistleblowers, patients, employees, audits, sophisticated data analytics, and referrals from state and federal agencies — not by another executive order creating a task force. Investing in MFCU staff is one of the best bargains in government. For every 25 cents Iowa invests in its MFCU, the federal government contributes 75 cents. Nationally, Medicaid Fraud Control Units recover roughly three to four or five dollars for every taxpayer dollar invested. Few public investments generate a better return.
If our governor and attorney general are truly serious about protecting taxpayers and vulnerable Iowans, the task force should meet one more time, read this article, adopt the following recommendations, and then disband without further grandstanding:
Fully fund Iowa’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit with sufficient numbers of highly qualified investigators and staff.
- Aggressively enforce the Iowa False Claims Act.
- Modernize investigative technology and data analytics.
- Restore and promote a rigorous statewide Medicaid Fraud Hotline.
- Empower — not sideline — the state auditor and other independent oversight agencies.
Kevin Techau is a former United States attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. He previously served as director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, and later as commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. He is an attorney in Cedar Rapids. Dean Lerner is a former Iowa assistant attorney general and former chief deputy secretary of state. He, too, served as director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. He is an attorney in Des Moines.
DUBUQUE COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG/Gray News) – Iowa authorities said two people were killed and five others were seriously injured in a crash involving a car and a utility terrain vehicle on Saturday night.
The Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office identified one of the deceased as 33-year-old Joshua Tack, of Union. The second person killed was a 10-year-old child.
At 9:21 p.m. Saturday, first responders were called to the intersection of East Worthington Road and Comer Road for a report of an accident involving a car and UTV.
The 10-year-old child was declared dead at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
Six others, including Tack, were initially taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Tack later died from his injuries.
Tack was a principal with the Beaman-Conrad-Liscomb-Union-Whitten Community School District. He has served as a school principal since 2023.
The school district shared a post Monday morning asking for the community to keep his family in their “thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”
The crash remains under investigation.
Copyright 2026 KCRG via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
-
Wyoming2 minutes agoHooray! Ranch Hand Rescues Squealing Elk Calf Entangled In Barbed Wire
-
Crypto8 minutes agoBitcoin Stalls at $63,400 as ETFs Outpace Network Issuance
-
Finance14 minutes agoHealthcare CFOs face growing decision-making expectations. Many say they aren't ready
-
Fitness20 minutes agoThese Basic Fitness Tests May Reveal How Long You’ll Live
-
Movie Reviews32 minutes ago‘Above and Below’ Review: A Slick and Entertaining Shark Thriller – Film Focus Online
-
Lifestyle2 hours agoHere’s how gyms, salons and ice cream are changing America’s Main Streets
-
Technology2 hours agoSaber denies replacing Rideshare Stimulator’s writers with ChatGPT
-
World2 hours agoNorth Korea launches another ballistic missile as US, South Korea prepare for military drills
