There are people who come to Kennywood just for the food. They ride a few roller coasters and play a few games, but mostly they spend the day sitting at a shady table eating. It is definitely what could be called "recreational food," not what your mother would serve you back home in her kitchen. But it's good, the portions are huge, it's not expensive, and with a few exceptions it 's not even unhealthy.

Because so many people use credit cards, Kennywood can track purchasing, and they have found the average visitor buys a food item 4-6 times per day. With the single price admission, the park does not have to make its profit off its food the way theatres or sports franchises do. So they can keep their prices low. They teach the servers to make small batches of food in front of the customer. Kennywood squeezes out its profits from the high volume of sales, then goes to great effort to eliminate waste. By not making amounts of an item ahead of time, they do not have to throw anything out at the end of a day.

Elsewhere in the park, you have a wide range of bizarre but delicious items. Fried Oreos are children's cookies dipped in pancake batter, then in oil, fried, and dusted with confectionary. Funnel Cakes, Belgian Waffles, Doughnuts and Candy Caramel Apples are a lot tastier here than they are at your local county fair. Several outlets in the park serve deep dish pizza, but that seems rather stodgy when you can get a Corn Dog, Double Crunch Cone, Taco Grande, Buffalo Chicken Tenders (watch these -- they're spicy), Fresh Pretzels, Cheese On AStick, and the park's very first food item from 1900, Cotton Candy.

As you graze your way through the day, a good lunch item might be a Philadelphia Beef & Cheese Sandwich. They grill a steak patty, add chopped onions, green peppers, and provolone cheese, then stuff it all into a fresh hoagie bun. Or you could lunch on a Hot Sausage Sandwich at The Pagoda (above the Auto Race). They grill a sausage and add onions and red peppers.

Kennywood also serves the big craze from the 1990s, DipnDots. This is supposed to be the ice cream of the future. The ice cream comes in little pearl sized pills frozen at -40 temperatures. You get it in a cup with a spoon. Around midafternoon, when you're hot and sweaty, you ought to try some. It doesn't taste like traditional ice cream. The extreme cold temperatures bewilder your taste buds and create whole new sensations in your mouth. They serve this from little carts and tiny stands. The first one you're likely to see is the cart parked by water's edge below the Paratrooper.

One tradition which sets Kennywood a level above many rival parks is the freshness of their food. All these items are made right in front of you. None of it (except the ice cream) is frozen, or even made ahead of time and held until you ask for it. You get to watch them scoop it, grill it, or ladle it, place it on the bun if it's a sandwich, or wrap it if it's a taco. So a lot of it may be high in sugar or cholesterol, but at least it's fresh.

Out by the entrance, veteran Kennywood fans always stop on the way home at the circular building, the old Rotor structure, and buy some fudge. Yes, it's rich and fattening and should probably be illegal, but on the drive back through the darkness, it sure is a fine way to end the day. There are a lot of people who buy enough to put in the refrigerator and nibble on for the rest of the Summer.