60+ wildest Calgary Stampede Midway food items of all time

The Calgary Stampede food for 2023 was just announced and there were some wild new additions to the lineup of things to eat.

It’s fair to say the Stampede brings food we’ve never seen, tasted, or even heard of before.

That got us thinking — what are some of the weirdest food dishes to roll through the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth?

These are some of the wildest Calgary Stampede foods we remember from over the years.

Meal Worm Hot Dogs

It’s a hot dog with whole-roasted meal worms. Yeah, why not?

Cheesy Chicken Hearts

These were deep-fried crispy on the outside and gooey cheesy on the inside. Slightly spicy, these chicken hearts were actually really good.

Sushi Donut

This item could have gone so many ways, but the sushi donut was a layering of smoked salmon or crab meat, roe, pickled radish, sesame seeds, and avocado mayo.

Seafood Ramen Poutine

Pretty standard poutine, just with added deep-fried ramen noodles, clams, and fish meat. Why aren’t these everywhere?

Pop Rocks Popcorn Chicken

Exactly what it sounds like.

Crazy Tongue Pizza

How good does this pizza sound?

Naturally sweet and vine-ripened tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pineapple, caramelized onions, and a Baja chipotle drizzle. There’s just also slow-braised AAA Alberta cow tongue on top.

Deep-Fried Bubble Gum

Think “pink deep-fried marshmallow” that’s very difficult to chew.

Spam Mac and Cheese

Spam is an underrated food that wrongly grosses some people out. This is basically just a great version of the nostalgic mac and cheese recipe when you’d get cut-up hot dogs in your bowl.

Pizza on a Stick

We love pizza and we love food on sticks. Bring this one back.

Pork Parfait

You can find a pulled pork parfait at McMahon Stadium this year!

Deep-Fried Jelly Beans

Hot jelly beans aren’t really our thing and they were fun to try but we’re okay with not having them around any longer.

Gator Bites

Tastes like chicken is a cliche but…these really did. Plus you’d have to try it just to say you did.

Deep-Fried Wine-Infused Cake

Yes, this does sound horrifying, but it made sense once you tried it. And it was good! It was a deep-fried bite of cake, topped with fried cheese curds with wine jelly on the side for dipping.

Cricket Caramel Apple

What kid wouldn’t choose crickets over something like, let’s say, candy or chocolate for their candy apple?

Octopus on a Stick

One tasty and devour-able delicacy on a stick.

Pork Intestine on a Stick

One less tasty and less devour-able delicacy on a stick.

Rainbow Street Corn

Sweet, salty, and spicy, this colourful corn cob on a stick had everyone’s heads turning at the Midway.

Kangaroo Pizza

People were hopping straight to this vendor to try what was essentially a mushroom Margherita with kangaroo pepperoni.

Unicorn White Hot Chocolate

Funnel Cake Poutine

If you love sweet and savoury (like, REALLY love it) then this dish was for you.

Freak Fries

These were a regular basket of fries that just happened to be a foot long. How big were those potatoes?

Smoking Charcoal Ice Cream

The flavour was coconut and the colour came from an infusion of black, activated charcoal.

One Metre Long Sausage

We recommend eating this one Lady and the Tramp-style.

Pig Pickle Tornado

Sort of like the iconic pocket dawg, but this is a deep-fried version that’s stuffed with slices of dill pickle and melty cheese.

Clam Chowder Poutine

There’s plenty out East that might find this a monstrosity of a food dish, but out here in the west, we loved it.

Bacon Onion Bombs

Deep-Fried Butter

Uhhhhh ya, we don’t know. It was delicious though, obviously. This Calgary Stampede food was definitely a decadent one.

Deep-Fried Kool-Aid

The Kool-Aid-infused batter was fried until golden and crisp. Surprisingly, people actually really did like this one.

Cricket Grilled Cheese

The Calgary Stampede Midway just really has a thing for putting bugs into food.

Deep-Fried Jell-O

Step 1: Take two squares of jiggly Jell-O. Step 2: Batter it. Step 3: Deep-fry it. Step 4: Eat it.

Rabbit Pizza

Rabbit is often a delicacy and so was this pizza, topped with the rare meat on a thin crust.

Wing and Waffle Bouquet

Chicken and waffles are a classic for a reason and this was a bunch of chicken wings conveniently stored in a waffle bowl to carry around.

Oreo Rice

Rice is an underrated dessert ingredient. Think about rice pudding… doesn’t this sound delicious now? Crushed Oreos, coconut milk, and rice is all we need to be happy.

Mini-Donut Tower

Mini-Donuts should come on a long stick. There’s already a hole in the middle!

Deep-Fried Tequila Shot Bites

These were non-alcoholic so that everybody could try them, but would they really want to anyway?

Deep-Fried Chicken Feet

We love them at authentic Chinese restaurants and we loved them here.

Bratwurst Sausage Infused with Louis XIII Cognac

Bad and boujee. This thing cost $100 when it was in the Calgary Stampede food lineup.

Deep-Fried Coffee

These coffee-flavoured dough balls were served hot and drizzled in caramel and Himalayan sea salt. There were five different flavours to choose from and they definitely helped us wake up each day.

Turkey-tini

A little mini turkey dinner made up inside of a martini glass. Felt like the Midway was trying a little hard with this one but who doesn’t love a little turkey.

Footlong Corndog

More corn dog is always a good thing.

Footlong Pizza Dog

Hot dogs and pizza are possibly the two best carnival foods, and combining them AND making it longer was a stroke of genius.

Carolina Reaper Pizza

The pizza was fine and fun to try if you could handle the heat from one of the hottest peppers in the world.

Lobster Corn Dog

Lobster, good. Corn dog, good.

Cactus Burger

Culinary adventure appears to the vegetarians at Stampede as well, and this one was topped with not just peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and black beans, but also cactus leaf.

Jalapeno Lime Fudge

An interesting texture to satisfy your citric and spicy tastebuds.

Mini-Donut Ice Cream

A fusion of mini-donuts into ice cream, this one was made even more fun when molded into a popsicle shape to enjoy on a stick, like all great Midway treats.

Tequila Fries

With a hint of zesty lime and a zap of tequila, this basket of fries appealed to the margarita lover in all of us.

Scorpion Pizza

Visually stunning (and scary) these cheese slices literally had tiny little fried scorpions on top of it.

Deep-Fried Sushi

Fruit-Infused Grilled Cheese

Every great cheese plate has fruit on it too, so this makes perfect sense. Flavours of blueberry, strawberry, and kiwi combined to make a bright and tasty twist on a classic.

Poutine Corn Dog

Crocodile Sliders

This was a bite-sized bun topped with lettuce and tomatoes, and of course, crocodile patties.

Turkey Dinner Poutine

Turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, fries for the potatoes, and add cheese curds? It’s astonishing this didn’t change the way we did Thanksgiving forever.

Deep-Fried Doritos

Doritos are already fine as is! We didn’t need this!

Deep-Fried Pop-Tarts

Certainly more fun (and tasty) than throwing them in the microwave was this popular Calgary Stampede food.

Kool-Aid Chicken Burger

This unique burger comes with a sweet cherry red glaze that tastes like… well, you know.

Ketchup and Mustard Ice Cream

These sound terrible but also maybe good? Served in waffle cones dunked in the condiments, these are also rolled in matching sprinkles and garnished with a fry or pretzel.

Neon Dog

No idea what bright blue flavour might be but hey, it’s colourful and bright so that’s fun!

Peanut Butter Pickle Dog

Pickle and peanut butter sandwiches have been a thing for a while now, but adding it to a corn dog might be a stroke of genius.

The Gouda Gator Dog

Served on a panini bun, this gator-trimmed jumbo dog is also topped with Louisiana Tartar Sauce, sauerkraut, and onions.

Street Corn Lemonade

Sounds weird and wrong but this lemonade is infused with spicy tajin, corn juice, and a hint of lime. It actually sounds pretty delicious! It’s also garnished with all the street corn fixin’s.

Habanero Cherry Ice Cream Taco

Perfect for summer (and Instagram), this waffle cone taco contains vanilla ice cream and habanero cherry sauce which is then dipped in chocolate and garnished with sweet pop rock sprinkles.