Thursday, July 31, 2008

Fried Chicken: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

THE GOOD - Willie Mae's Scotch House


Willie Mae represents overcoming the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. Famous for her tasty fried chicken, she received the prestigious James Beard Food Award,the Oscar of cooking, in 2005. Once her restaurant was destroyed in the Hurricane, she refused to leave and was helped by locals and food celebrities to rebuild the cultural landmark. (Interesting tidbit: Ben's Chili Bowl won the award in 2004)






THE BAD - Nas' "Fried Chicken" off his new and wanna-be controversial album UNTITLED


Come on now Nas, you done took it too far with the righteousness. Attacking Fried Chicken! It ain't do nothin' to you! Attack the amount of fast food chains in impoverished neighborhoods, attack the fact that in some neighborhoods, people feel it is easier to buy a gun than fruits and vegetables! Attack not teaching your child correct nutrition and exercise habits. While I appreciate the metaphor (however loosely executed), I think this is a bit preachy and misdirected.






THE UGLY - Tyson's Fried Chicken Strips Commercial

Aside from being incredibly stupid, the woman is serving PRE-MADE fried chicken from a BAG!!! What she doing taking it out of that cast iron pan like she cooked something. What's up with the chicken soliloquy and random man playing the piano in the background. There was some mild controversy over whether this commercial was racist or not, I just think it's moronic.





I would include a "healthy" fried chicken recipe here, but there is no replacing the crunchy goodness. Just in case you need a reminder as to why this should be an occasional treat, here are the nutritional breakdowns of Popeye's fried chicken (my personal fave).

Breast - 350 calories / 20 grams of fat /1130 mg sodium / 179 mg cholesterol

Thigh - 280 calories / 20 grams of fat / 710 mg sodium / 135 mg cholesterol

Wing - 150 calories / 10 grams of fat / 690 mg sodium / 92 mg cholesterol

Leg - 110 calories / 7 grams of fat / 280 mg sodium / 59 mg cholesterol

Roughly 30% of those fat grams consist of saturated fat.

2 comments:

rashad said...

Sadly, that Nas/Busta song is sneaking up on me..I shall stay away from KFC

Never200 said...

Well, the song has a decent beat and classic Nas flo. IT also has Busta Rhymes in rare non-hyper form. I just don't care for the preachiness. Is Busta talking about pork in the last verse?