I’m not a fast-food person. If I’m on the highway starving and we pull off at an exit to find only a McDonald’s, a KFC, and a Taco Bell, well then, I’m going to look for some Tic Tacs in my purse. Even so, some quick-service items still look yummy in commercials: fries, shakes, hamburgers glistening with delicious grease. But even tarted up by food stylists, KFC’s Famous Bowls strongly resemble the bins of scraped-off food leavings by the dishwashing station in school cafeterias. Who had the genius idea to lay down a bed of starch, cover it with limp corn, and then give it a roof of fried chicken, musky, gelatinous “gravy,” and melted cheese? It’s a concoction even nastier than Homer Simpson’s Good Morning Burger.
Who eats this crap? Clearly someone; perhaps thanks to KFC’s ridiculous publicity stunts, consumers rated the Bowls the “most memorable new product” of 2006. Chowhounds, on the other hand, are both intrigued and disgusted:
The commercial makes me sick to my stomach. It looks like they swept up the floor after a busy day at KFC and dumped it in a bowl.
against my own better instincts i tried one. score one for my instincts!!!!!!! it was horrendous. the chicken turns mushy because of the gravy, the potatos are blah, and the whole mess is way too salty…other than that it was delicious (gag).
I predict these will be wildly successful. These are the sort of thing that tasting focus groups always come up with: recombine existing ingredients and increase product size equals big sales. Look at Taco Bell, they basically just recombine meat/beans/skins/rice/cheese and give it a stupid name.
That said, I’d rather eat my own left buttock than put this in my mouth.
Ha ha ha ha ha! That was fun, wasn’t it? If you’re in the “intrigued” group, you may want to make your own Bowl at home. I know I certainly would.
My wife and I keep trying to figure out if this or the SNL parody came first. I think the parody came first. That’s the problem with writing comedy. Anytime you write something that you think lampoons the gluttony of the American public a fast food chain is right behind you to steal your idea and make millions.
on the one hand, I’m all for eating meals from bowls…easy, practical…if you’re eating curry
But on the other, I have to agree with Patton Oswald in his routine where he compares these KFC bowls to eating like an inmate.
They look nasty, but might (temporarily) cure a hangover.
On a related note, I laugh every time the KFC commercial comes on where the lady tells the guy that the fried chicken now has “zero grams of trans-fat”…as if to imply that it’s a heath food
Recently I noticed they added a biscuit on top. My fast food feinding friends say it is just what the bowl was missing. I thought it was missing taste, nutritional value, sense, care and real food. But I am glad they love it.
I am a fast food fiend and that is just foul. I love a Super Sized 20 piece Chicken Mc Nugget meal, but I’m not looking for them to create me a chicken McNugget bowl, covered in french fries and topped with McDonalds pancakes covered in syrup. Of course now that I’ve said it, watch for it.
I live in South Africa, we dont have that here yet, what the hell is it, how does it look? I love the wraps though, its pretty nice, but things in africa do taste fresher, trust me. Macdonalds in SA tastes a little less Plastic… I think its because our cows eat grass and dont suck food from tubes…
Joyce, forgive me. I must object to the use of the word “Chowhounder”. Historically, we’ve referred to ourselves as “Chowhounds”. It’s a simpler, more correct term.
Don’t take my word for it. Here are some documents where the term is used correctly.
http://www.chowhound.com/manifesto
http://www.amazon.com/Chowhounds-Guide-York-Tristate-Area/dp/0143034405/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1103504-5108854?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180530968&sr=1-1
Regarding the Devil’s Own Bowl… Your report made me laugh. I haven’t tried the bowl. I’m still working up the courage to try the Taco Bell crunchwrap. :-)
Personally, I can’t wait until they come out with the lunchgun.
http://www.bestweekever.tv/2006/12/08/patton-likes-his-failure-pile-in-a-sadness-bowl/
val ann c: you’re right, and Chowhound is correct house style. The blog post has been edited to fix.
I have to make a nasty confession. I love McDonalds McRibs. Everyone I know are horrified when what I call, “McRib Season” is here. They are disgusted and always grimace when I buy one and eat it. They’re delicious, I’m not ashamed.
I was horrified when I saw the original commercial, and horrified to see the SNL parody. I’m also horrified whenever I go to a KFC (which isn’t very often) and see the huge color photos of it.
Now, I would never stand in the way of someone who wanted to order a few Crispy Strips for protein’s sake, and the KFC plain mashed potatoes have helped me get through bouts of the flu on more than one occasion. But the bowl simply pushes me over the edge. The Cardiac Arrest Bowl is more like it.