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When Alan Bell started his food cart, Hana's PDX (@hanas_pdx), he didn't just bring authentic, New Orleans-style snowballs to Portland—he also introduced the city to Kool-Aid pickles. A fixture of gas stations all over the South, they're exactly what they sound like: dill pickles that have been drained of their brine and steeped in different flavors of Kool-Aid, like tropical punch or peach mango.
The process gives the pickles a highly unnatural, electric hue. But anyone who has spent any time in Mississippi knows that if you have a working taste receptor, the flavors hit hard. They're cold and crunchy, sweet, salty and tangy all at once. If they live in your fridge, they're the perfect summer snack.
At Bell's food cart, they're the natural accompaniment to chili cheese chips—chips, chili and cheese in a bag, eaten with a spoon. Eat it now and thank me later. Just don't ride any roller coasters immediately after.
Click here for the full Best of Portland 2018 guide.
