When I was younger I showed cattle at jackpot shows, State Fairs, and National Stock show and rodeos across the country. The people and Places always changed from year to year, but the one thing that I could count on being the same was the food, always greasy, always full of flavor. The one food that I always ate, no matter the place was a corndog, the undeniable cornerstone of fair food. The corndog, is a food that taught me that no matter how far you go whether Fort Worth, Tulsa, or as far as Denver, that somethings stay the same; that is why the corndog is so important to me. Its early in the morning, the fair gates for general admission at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo have not even stretched out their wide metal arms to let the …show more content…
Schools took young children through the barns and around the fair grounds on field trips turning the place into a standoff between sight seers and exhibitors trying desperately to keep the cattle clean and relaxed for the show, a nearly impossible task. Lunchtime was a scramble to behold, a horde of people from all walks of life trudging through the maze of rides, venders, and food stands all side by side ready to serve up a crowd willing to receive whatever product, or experience they wished to sell. I weaved through the crowds of people wandering aimlessly without a destination in sight. I cut through the barn that housed the Watusi cattle, the gentle longhorn of Africa, stopping for just a moment to look upon the graceful animals walking with its immense horns, and kept moving towards my destination. The stand closest to my area was past the barn of the Watusi and to the left. When I get there the line is long, but worth the wait, I pay for my corndog, and walk back to the barn slowly this time, taking bites of the familiar taste, the same taste as in Fort Worth. As I walk back I turn back to watching the Watusi, the cattle that roamed Africa from Egypt to the Mali, and wondered what reminded them of a home so far away, what was their symbolic