Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was committed to making the most out of his first visit to the Iowa State Fair: He even took a public bus to the fairgrounds.

The South Bend, Indiana mayor then proceeded to eat the fair's food delicacies without caution, quickly buying a root beer float before he headed to the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox.

Buttigieg ended his Soapbox speech by quizzing the crowd for food suggestions. He soon got to work on the famed pork chop, a bacon ball BLT, fried Oreos and a snow cone-slushy concoction, among other items. He took a gizmo (a sandwich described as "Italian sausage and ground beef mixed together with special sauce and seasonings, smothered with melted mozzarella cheese") to go.

Shortly after going down the Giant Slide with a 4-year-old, Buttigieg joined the Register for a ride on the Sky Glider.

Des Moines Register: You've now been at the fair for a few hours, what do you think?

Mayor Pete Buttigieg: "I feel like I've been initiated ... you can tell people are paying attention to politics, but it's not all about politics. And people are just so friendly and nice, it's great."

Register: With the foods, did you have a favorite food?

Buttigieig: "The bacon ball BLT is my front-runner right now."

Register: What about it?

Buttigieg: "The surprise and delight. Because you got the bacon, then you find the meatball in it. Then you get to the part with the cheese. And I didn't see the cheese coming."

Register: With the fair, presidential candidates are constantly looking for authentic moments, but you have this large crowd of reporters ... what was that like, and how did you try to ensure that you actually had those kind of "moments" with caucusgoers?

Buttigieg: "You know, you're not going to have an in-depth conversation with a lot of people, but you can at least establish goodwill. Say 'hi' to folks, and get a rough sense for what's on their minds. So I try to do it by asking questions ... at least ask where they're from, try to get a sense what they care about. Obviously, it's not the most normal way to go around the fair, when you got a force field of 50 cameras around you. But then again, they say nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. So it got people curious or interested, then they noticed it was us. Turned into a conversation starter."

Register: Now that you've experienced a lot of the things of the Iowa State Fair, do you have any advice for folks? Because there are a few days left of the fair.

Buttigieg: "That's true. Well, it's probably good to think about your sequence, when you're going through the food. I think I just went for whatever was nearest. But, if I were thinking about it, I would have probably started with like an appetizer, like a fried pickle, and then got into the pork chop, and then followed it up with the Oreo. Although now I'm thinking, it's not clear where the bacon ball would have fit into that."

Register: You're going to be in Iowa for the next couple of days, southeast Iowa in particular. What is the message that you're trying to get across to the folks that you're going to be meeting with?

Buttigieg: "Well, I want to make sure they feel heard. And understand that, you know, our party really seeks to speak to people in every state, in every community and in every kind of community. So our emphasis this week is on rural America. Because I think that people have not always felt that our party has connected to rural America, even though they should ... in my view, the fact that we haven't invested in rural America is really hitting people hard. And you have a president and an administration that's not showing a lot of real concern, in my view, in their actions, for rural America. So I want people to hear that message. And I want to really drive home that sense of urgency that we've been stressing throughout the campaign."

Register: You've been to Iowa several times over the past few weeks, in a wide range of settings. What have Iowans taught you about the campaign trail?

Buttigieg: "One thing that's very alive here is that politics is a responsibility. What I see with Iowans is this understanding that people in this state really have a thumb on the scale in terms of the whole party selection process. And I don't see people taking that lightly. I see people taking it very seriously. And my hope is that that's the kind of spirit you want all your voters to have. Is this idea that this stuff matters."

Barbara Rodriguez covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at bcrodriguez@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8011. Follow her on Twitter @bcrodriguez.

Support reporters who follow your government by becoming a subscriber. Sign up at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.