KFC Thinks Hunger is Funny

by: Jill Richardson

Mon May 03, 2010 at 11:39:02 AM PDT

When introducing a bunless sandwich, the obvious question is: what happens to all the buns? To celebrate the launch of the Double Down, KFC will do some good by donating the "unneeded" sandwich buns to feed the hungry....it's great to find a good home for some of those 'unneeded' KFC buns at food banks around the country.

Great. Hungry people serve as a prop to promote their new ultra-bad-for-you sandwich, and the buns - which are not good enough for their paying customers - will go to the needy. All at a time when economic conditions force large numbers of Americans to subsist on low cost fast food (like KFC) and whatever they can get from food banks.

What sick, inconsiderate, conscienceless marketing exec came up with this idea at KFC? And which other sick people at KFC gave it the thumbs up? I am writing this in light of a recent post on this blog, "The Stress of Food Bank Food," which describes in detail what it is like to live on food from a food bank. And that was written by somebody who knew that his several days of lousy, meager, unhealthy foods were short term as they were part of an experiment.

Imagine being a child whose introduction to the world is a household so unstable that meals are never a given because your parents - try their might - cannot always provide for you? Or the shame of being that parent, who wants to give his or her child everything a child needs but still cannot. Think about the fear as the days of the month tick by and your salary and food stamps run low, knowing that at some point the money - and the food - will run out and your only hope of eating comes from a food bank. Is that funny to KFC? And will those people who line up at food banks be better off thanks to KFC's donation of refined, nutrient-devoid bread spiked with high fructose corn syrup?

A more caring entity would use the money spent on these buns and instead provide food banks with nutritious, high quality food that will benefit those who rely on food banks. But, of course, the budget for these buns no doubt came out of KFC's marketing budget, not their "social responsibility" budget. Thus, the recipients of the buns are no more than a prop to KFC. The hungry people are only there as a joke to portray how unnecessary the buns are for the new sandwich that substitutes two patties of fried chicken for bread. The Double Down itself is sick, but this stunt is sicker. And sadder still is that American food banks rely on this kind of "generosity," where corporations give them whatever they cannot sell (or in this case, whatever serves their latest marketing campaign) and then pat themselves on the back for their generosity. I would like to see the execs of KFC - all of them - try living a week on food bank rations and then reconsider their donations.

Free Kentucky Grilled Chicken, Anybody?

by: Jill Richardson

Sun May 10, 2009 at 09:10:42 AM PDT

New Rule: Kentucky Fried Chicken can kill their roadkill whatever they want. I'm still not eating out of a bucket. This week, for the fourth time, KFC is introducing grilled chicken. I'm sorry, but you're missing the whole reason my mouth is not watering. The problem isn't the word "fried," it's the word "Kentucky." [slide of obese "redneck"]

I guess Kentucky must be the problem after all, because even when most people take a factory farmed chicken and grill it, it doesn't turn out with an ingredient list like this:

Seasoned with: Maltodextrin, Salt, Bleached Wheat Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Monosodium Glutamate, Spices, Palm Oil, Natural Flavor, Garlic Powder, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Chicken Fat, Chicken Broth, Autolyzed Yeast, Beef Powder, Rendered Beef Fat, Extractives of Turmeric, Dehydrated Carrot, Onion Powder, and Not More Than 2% Each of Calcium Silicate and Silicon Dioxide Added as Anticaking Agents. Contains Wheat and Soy.

That is nothing less than SICK. And to people realize that their chicken tastes so yummy because it was flavored with beef? But apparently Bill Maher and I are in the minority here. Plenty of Americans had no problem with either the word Kentucky or beef-and-MSG-flavored chicken.

"The lines of customers wanting to redeem their coupons have been out the door and around the block, so we're unable to redeem customer coupons at this time." Eaton said in a statement issued late Thursday.

KFC said millions of Americans had downloaded free coupons after the offer was featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and Web site on Tuesday, driving traffic to levels unseen in the brand's 50-year history.

Eaton apologized to customers for the changes to the scheme and said those who already had a coupon could get a rain check form to enable them to use it at a later date.

(Hat tip to blogger count who pointed this out.)

Sampler Platter 05.07.09

by: Jill Richardson

Thu May 07, 2009 at 14:00:00 PM PDT

• A friend of mine has just launched a new project, OrganicNation.tv. She'll be traveling the U.S. and documenting sustainable food and agriculture and you'll be able to see her footage on the site. (For full disclosure, I'm one of the project's advisors.)

• Organic sales grew by 17.1% in 2008, according to a new report by the Organic Trade Association.

See below for more...

Finger-Lickin' Good Potholes

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM PDT

This is seriously pathetic. The right has said for years that we should rely on the private sector to do everything. Is this what they meant? Subject our citizens to looking at advertisements for food that is bad for them, just so they don't have to pay for road maintenance with tax dollars?

I heard from a guy who worked in advertising once that advertisers are frustrated by TiVo, pop-up blockers, TV series on DVDs, and all of the other "tricks" consumers have found to avoid looking at their ads. So now I see ads in the trays where you put your laptops and shoes in the security line at the airport. They are clearly looking for every possible space they can find to advertise - including the back of people's shaved heads in the case of one airlines.

And I realize the companies will continue to do this, but in this particular case, fixing the streets is the government's job and it's pathetic that it's turned into a KFC advertising opportunity.

Hat tip to Aliza for sending this to me.

Appetizer Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Mar 04, 2009 at 17:34:13 PM PST

• San Diego's citrus and avocado industries may be in trouble. The reason? Water. Or, rather, lack of water.

• Interested in studying gastronomy in Italy? You get to gorge yourself on fine wines and cheese in Italy and get a college degree for it. Nice! Last week I met up with the university's David Szanto while he was in L.A. I have to admit, I might not be ready to pack my bags for Italia but I sure am jealous!

• Sustainable Table gives instructions to make your own yogurt. OK, now I am seriously sad I don't know of any local dairies near me. Homemade yogurt looks yummy. Hat tip to Natasha Chart for this.

• Civil Eats celebrates National Eat the Stuff in our Freezers and Pantry Week. I'm not sure I can celebrate. Do cashews and dried beans go stale if they've been sitting on a shelf for 2-4 years?

• Marion Nestle went to see Food, Inc and she gives it two thumbs up. I've only seen clips and heard a talk by the director and stars Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan about the making of the movie. It's going to be a BIG DEAL when this comes out.

• Grist answers the question "Can you compost tainted food?" Their answer, in short, is NO. If you've got food that's been recalled due to salmonella or other toxic microbes, throw that shit away!

• Chef Kurt Michael Friese isn't done yet picking on KFC's cheap chicken ads. He says they hide the true cost of the food. It's a pretty funny take on the ad, especially when he goes into the fine print and translates it from lawyer into English. "The chicken is fresh, except for when it's not." Yum. (Here's his previous commentary on KFC ads.)

• Check out this article about a foodie who gleans the Bay Area's unwanted fruit, herbs, and nuts from residential trees.

• The Ethicurean tells about volunteering at a free lunch program in New England. It's a really well-written and touching story from a first-person point of view. I definitely recommend taking a look, especially if you've ever considered volunteering yourself.

KFC Challenge: Family Meal for Under $10

by: Jill Richardson

Sat Nov 01, 2008 at 13:15:54 PM PDT

I compared commodity products and organic ones, and calculated for each. The market had only one kind of chicken. It was far from the free-range, organic, local chicken I would normally use, but it was hormone-free from a network of family farms and faced nowhere near the cruel conditions suffered by KFC's chickens. One of the latter would have been even cheaper than the $4.76 I paid for this one. In fairness I should note that the little girl in KFC's ad asks the butcher for seven pieces, already cut up, but I have faith that a home cook can cut up a whole chicken. I should also note that KFC cuts chicken breasts in half, so there are 10 pieces in a whole bird (four breast halves, two legs, two thighs, two wings).

I rounded up everything I needed for chicken, biscuits, and mashed potatoes with gravy and totaled my costs, accounting for ingredients that were a fraction of a cent (small amounts of spices, for example) by rounding up to $0.01. I must admit I don't know the seven secret herbs and spices, but as a professional chef, I know you can do an awful lot with salt and pepper. The bottom line? The KFC meal, including Iowa state sales tax of 6 percent, is $10.58. I made the same meal (chicken, four biscuits, mashed potatoes, and gravy) for $7.94 -- and I got three extra pieces of chicken and a carcass to use for soup.

Even allowing for the whole batch of 24 biscuits, the meal still comes in at $8.45. In fact, using organic or other high-end items where the market carried them (flour, grapeseed oil, butter, milk), my total bill for the meal came to $10.62.