The CNE is back in Toronto, which means it's officially the season of eating things that have no business existing and loving every second of it. Karon Liu at the Star did the heroic work of tasting his way through the newest menu items so the rest of us can plan our calorie budget, and the lineup this year goes hard on the weird. You can read his full rundown here, but the ones that stopped me mid-scroll deserve their own conversation.

The headline grabber is the Kraft Dinner smoothie. Yes, a smoothie made with KD. I have questions. Many questions. Is it sweet? Savory? Does it taste like childhood but in a cup and slightly wrong? I once ate fried mac and cheese on a stick at a fair in Ohio and questioned my choices for three days, so I fully understand the assignment here, and I'd still order the smoothie anyway. Fair food isn't supposed to make sense.

Then there's pickle coffee, because apparently 2026 refused to let us have a normal beverage year. Between the dirty sodas taking over menus and now brine in my coffee, the drink landscape has gone completely feral. And pickle people are committed people. They put pickle juice on everything and they've never once been wrong about their convictions, so I'm not betting against this.

What I love about the CNE food drop every August is that it's basically a state fair tradition with a Canadian accent, and I say that with total affection since I just ate my way through the Iowa State Fair and I'm still thinking about it. Every place has something ridiculous and delicious tucked away, and Toronto's contribution this year involves turning boxed mac and cheese into a beverage. That is commitment to the bit.

If you're going, my advice is the same advice I give for every fair on earth: go hungry, wear stretchy pants, split the wild stuff with a friend so you can try more of it, and don't eat lunch beforehand. That last one is the classic mistake. I've made it. Twice.

The CNE runs through Labour Day, so you've got time. Would you do the KD smoothie, or is that where you draw the line? I genuinely want to know where people's limits are, because mine clearly don't exist.