State Fair of Texas, 2026 New Food, Big Tex Choice Awards Semi-Finalist
Located at Highland Park Soda Fountain in the Tower Building
Elvis ate peanut butter and banana together his whole life. Texas finally put it in a cup.
What This Thing Actually Is
Creamy banana pudding ice cream gets spun together with rich peanut butter sauce into a milkshake.
Then it gets loaded up: a peanut butter cookie, thick crispy bacon, caramel drizzle, whipped cream, and a cherry on top.
Banana, peanut butter, and bacon, blended into a drink instead of stacked on a sandwich.
Michelle Edwards of J3M2 Services built it, served at Highland Park Soda Fountain in the Tower Building.
The Part That’s Actually Funny
Elvis Presley’s favorite sandwich combined peanut butter, banana, and bacon fried together. It’s one of the most parodied food combinations in American pop culture, mostly because it sounds like a joke until someone actually eats one.
This entry didn’t fry the sandwich. It liquefied the whole concept and handed it to you with a straw.
Somebody looked at a sandwich famous for being almost too much, and found a way to make it a beverage.
It made this year’s crowded semi-finalist field, one of dozens of new items competing for attention at a Fair that pulled in a record 77 Big Tex Choice Award entries in 2026.
Why Texas Keeps Doing This
Everything is bigger in Texas, including the commitment to a bit that’s been a punchline for 50 years.
A regular banana milkshake would have been an easy sell on a hot fairground afternoon. Texas built the version that also stuffs in bacon and a whole cookie, because a fairgoer holding this one for a photo does the marketing before anyone takes a sip.
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