The Colonel and I

Yes, it is that Colonel……

Recently I had KFC (or Kentucky Fried Chicken as we of the boomer generation knew it) for the first time in over 10 years. To say that this was accompanied by a boat load of guilt over eating all that fatty, deep fried meat is an understatement.

Being the responsible health conscious person that I am, I felt the need to confess my dietary transgression to my family and decided to turn it into a learning experience, by conducting a survey among family members. In doing so an interesting thing happened. Almost everyone I talked to, with little prompting, had surprisingly distinct memories about having KFC.

In our childhood we didn’t know or appreciate the dangers of saturated fats, deep fried foods and high sodium content, we just knew those eleven herbs and spices on that deep fried chicken tasted delicious. With the size of our family and the cost of KFC this was a rare treat, usually reserved for Sunday dinner at our grandparent’s house. And as often happened at mealtime in our house, if you weren’t quick in line, all the best pieces would be gone and you’d be left with just the wings.

When I asked my sisters about their KFC memories, Little Sis said she always knew when it was a Mom’s golf day as she would bring Little Sis a KFC snack pak for dinner. Try as she might Big Sis could not recall any specific memories about KFC. Perhaps she had a bad KFC experience in her youth and has blocked all memories of it from her mind? Or perhaps it has something to do with her being in her 70s and preferring to ” live in the moment.” 🙂

My husband remembers having KFC as a teenager when he was on a cross country family camping trip and he remembers having KFC at the rehearsal dinner before our wedding 46 years ago. He obviously associates it with significant, memorable life events!

My children both told me they fondly remembered having KFC at their grandparent’s house on occasion.

Perhaps I could be accused of having too much time on my hands, but I am intrigued by the idea that people in my family seem to have specific memories about KFC. I don’t think they could as easily come up with a specific memory about a pizza or burger they had. Could there be a research project here???

It is also intriguing to me that, in these health conscious times, the Colonel’s secret recipe is still going strong and that the brand is constantly evolving to keep up with the times. Just the other day I saw an ad promoting their new plant based option.

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Recently they featured several different celebrities as Colonel Sanders in their ads (if you guessed Reba MacIntyre and George Hamilton in the pictures above, you are correct). They also featured a beardless Colonel Sanders logo to acknowledge men’s health Movember, which seems to have caused quite a commotion.

You will, I’m sure, be happy to know that I have overcome my KFC guilt, and perhaps will think about having KFC again sometime in the next ten years, but safe to say it won’t be the plant based option. I think if you’re going to have KFC you really should “go big or go home.”

And for those of you wondering… it is still finger lickin’ good!

We plan to publish a new post every Monday, so stay tuned for our next one entitled “News You Can Lose.”