DES MOINES

THERE is no dignified way to eat deep-fried butter on a stick. Nor should there be.

It’s a daredevil food that squirts grease onto your chin or your shirt or a passer-by, a rebuke of your decision to try it. You must accept this.

The Iowa State Fair is no place for guilt or regrets. Despite the earnest notes sounded by visiting political candidates (President Obama and Representative Paul Ryan showed up on Monday), it is a vast, sweet, savory, shameless wonderland that operates on its own terms for 11 days each August.

The deep-fried butter concoction, last year’s big new offering, was wildly popular, so it’s back, along with a long list of deep-fried things, including Snickers bars, Twinkies and cheesecake, each on a stick.

This year’s exotic new food is the deep-fried pickle dawg, which involves a pickle slice, pastrami or ham and cream cheese. Attempts by its creators to put it on a stick and keep it there were disappointing, so it is served in a cardboard boat.