By EDWARD R. PEREZ Associated Press Writer

October 15, 2002, 9:52 AM EDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- In the South, where some joke that the four basic food groups are barbecued, baked, broiled or fried, state fairs are filled with booths that sell everything from corn on a stick to club-like turkey legs.

For dessert, an odd new treat has emerged: fried Twinkies.

Phil Dickson of Hot Springs has sold about 1,000 of the batter-dipped, deep-fried goodies topped with powdered sugar since the Arkansas State Fair opened Friday.

"It's amazing to me," Dickson said Monday. "The response has just been tremendous."

Each Twinkie, at 160 calories and five grams of fat a pop, is impaled on a stick and frozen until firm, then dipped in a batter similar to that used to fry fish.

Deep frying adds more calories and fat, and the powdered-sugar coating apparently complements the Twinkie's altered state.

"The inside creamy part stays cool, while the outside is warm," said Rhonda Yates, a postal worker spending her vacation helping Dickson with the Twinkie booth.

Fairs in Arizona, California, Kansas and Washington also are expected to roll out fried Twinkies this year.

Suzanne Hackett, the general manager of an English restaurant in New York City called The ChipShop, said the fried Twinkie was born in her eatery out of boredom.

"We had a very slow night in the restaurant so we decided to buy a bunch of junk food and deep fry it," Hackett said Monday. "And the Twinkies just tasted so good."

Interstate Brands Corp., the firm that owns Twinkie-maker Hostess, doesn't object to the new creation -- it actually promotes the idea -- though it doesn't suggest a steady diet of the culinary concoction.

"It's one of the beauties of having a brand that is an American icon," said Mike Redd, a vice president of Interstate's cake marketing division. "It's fun ... and it's taken on a life of its own."

Still, Redd said, "It's not something you'd want to eat every day."

Frances Price, a clinical nutritionist with Arkansas Children's Hospital, said parents should be cautious about their children's diet, but that eating treats is just part of being kid.

"There is room in the diet for some treats, you can't exclude it completely," Price said. "And at least fair food is part of a family activity where families walk up and down the midway."

Joel Counts, a tourist from the Los Angeles area who tried his first fried Twinkie on Monday, said it was excellent.

"It tastes like a Twinkie but it has a little extra flavor because of the frying," Counts said. "And the powdered sugar just tops it off."

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2002