August is smack in the middle of state and county fair season, and it turns out these events can say a lot about the wider economy \u2014 especially when it comes to the food operations.<\/p>\n
For this installment of the Marketplace Economic Pulse<\/a>, we heard from Dominic Palmieri, the so-called \u201cMidway Gourmet.\u201d As co-owner of Odyssey Foods, he\u2019s in charge of carnival food<\/a> at all sorts of fairs. He spoke with \u201cMarketplace Morning Report\u201d host Kimberly Adams. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.<\/p>\n Kimberly Adams: <\/strong>So, where are you now? What event are you working on?<\/p>\n Dominic Palmieri:<\/strong> We’re at the famous Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California. Basically, one of the largest fairs in all of California, and especially the biggest one in Southern California.<\/p>\n Adams: <\/strong>What kind of logistics are involved getting food together for an event like that?<\/p>\n Palmieri: <\/strong>When you come to a fair, one of the number one reasons people come is to eat. With that comes a supply chain, because we’re providing food to thousands and thousands of people. There\u2019s a lot of specialty meats \u2014 like turkey legs and smoked sausage \u2014 that we bring in from Texas. The produce that comes in from Northern California and from all across the coast. We have an incredible strawberry program that we’re doing. That’s basically farm-to-fair in as little as 24 hours.<\/p>\n Adams: <\/strong>So, you’ve got strawberries on the menu. What other kinds of foods are on offer this summer at this event and other events you’ve been working?<\/p>\n Palmieri: <\/strong>Of course, we do some wild and wacky things. We have the hot Cheeto cheese pickle pizza<\/a>. And we also have the what we call the \u201cporkapalooza\u201d pizza<\/a>, and we use a chicharr\u00f3n that we crumble up, and we put that on top of the pizza to give it that texture and that extra flavor.<\/p>\n