KFC for ME!

Every few months or so, I get and intense craving for KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken. Not the extra crispy, the super spicey, the popcorn variety, or wings. All I want is Original Recipe. As I drove to KFC tonight, I knew deep in my heart that eating fried chicken was going to make me feel like grease is coursing through my veins for the next few hours, but I couldn't help myself. My husband wasn't around tonight, I needed dinner, and he hates KFC. It was my perfect opportunity.

What I REALLY want is the skin. When I was doing Weight Watchers, they'd tell us to pull off the skin before eating chicken to save us from signifcant fat and calories. Throw away the skin? I don't think so! I'd like to propose to KFC that they market a new item called "Bucket-O-Skin." That's right, a bucket with NO chicken meat - just chicken skin battered in those secret herbs and spices and deep fried to crispy golden brown goodness.

We saw several KFCs in China. McDonald's and KFC, those are the little pieces of America that they have in China. I did eat in a McDonald's in Hong Kong (you could get breakfast ANY TIME OF THE DAY!!! I had an egg mcmuffin at 10:00 at night!!!), but I didn't brave the KFC. While I did eat chicken in China (Chickity China the Chinese chicken, You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin') the thought of eating KFC was not appealing in the era of Avian Flu.

I probably should have eaten there, though - KFC is HUGE in China - the most recognized global brand in China, if you can believe it. Yes, more recognized than even McDonald's. Probably has to do with chicken being a large dietary staple there, with beef a close second, but we NEVER had ground beef there except in McDonald's, so it's understandable that the Chinese might not get the appeal of Mickey D's. Also in China, KFC has a mascot - "Chicky," a fluffy chicken mascot who is intensely popular with the kiddies.

Another fun fact: KFC's advertising slogan "finger-lickin' good" was mistranslated into Chinese characters that meant "eat your fingers off." Hey, sometimes it's just THAT good!

Which brings me to another KFC story. My brother once convinced me that KFC couldn't call the restaurants "Kentucky Fried Chicken" anymore because the genetically engineered meat they used could not be referred to as "chicken" by the government. My brother went so far as to tell me that the mutant "chicken" products were grown with no heads or claws in jars hooked up to equipment, which gave me the image of naked, headless chickens floating in fluid ala Luke Skywalker in the bacta tank after being pulled from the frozen tundra of Hoth (after warming in the belly of a tauntaun, of course.) Of course, this was eventually shown to be an urban legend.

Even that didn't stop me from wanting that delicious, slippery, salty, buttery, somewhat crunchy skin. Oh KFC, please at least try marketing a Bucket-o-Skin! We want SKIN!