"kfc" news and stories

The newest corporation riding the green wave might surprise environmentalists. A new Kentucky Fried Chicken outpost in Indianapolis is gunning for LEED certification (short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the U.S. Green Building Council. Before you give the Colonel a pat on the back, we feel compelled to mention that this is different from green certification from the Green Restaurant Association, which evaluates sustainability efforts in both food and waste control. LEED is purely design-oriented -- think energy-efficient lighting and building materials.

So what's special about this KFC? Well, they're using "reusable containers," meaning plastic instead of styrofoam, plus paper boxes (weren't those infamous buckets already paper?). To this we say, "about time." But on its website, the company touts the reduction of styrofoam by 62 percent -- not 100 -- and plastic by 17 percent. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff.

The building itself is well-designed, however. It's got long-life LED lighting, locally sourced building materials and fixtures that reduce water use -- all of which is estimated to reduce energy waste by 25 percent, according to the company press release.

It might not be earth-shattering change, but we'll take it.

It sounds like a setup for a joke: An American president (well, a look-alike) is in China, hawking a fish sandwich for a chicken chain.

But we're not kidding. An Obama doppelganger has been hired by China's KFC marking team to advertise the chain's new fish sandwich. Obama Foodorama, a blog dedicated to rounding up Obama-related food news (someone's gotta do it, we suppose), reports that KFC, the most popular fast-food chain in the country, is hoping the "Mmmm, change is good!" ad campaign will boost sales. Whether "Fauxbama" does the trick remains to be seen.

Read the story at Obama Foodorama.

Nothing says Christmas like a monster bucket of KFC -- if you're in Tokyo, that is.

In what may be one of the most bizarre cases of lost in translation, it turns out that the Japanese love the Colonel's secret recipe come yuletide. They love it so much, in fact, that they line up for blocks in order to nab one of KFC's Christmas Party Barrels or reserve their finger-lickin' good favorites two months in advance.

"Japan is well known for taking foreign products and ideas and adapting them to suit domestic taste, and Christmas is no exception. A highly commercialized and non-religious affair, lots of money is spent annually on decorations, dinners and gifts," writes the Financial Times, which credits an ad campaign in the 1970s for placing KFC at the center of the Japanese holiday table.

The Christmas Party Barrel includes eight pieces of chicken (either all fried or half seasoned with garlic and soy), a Caesar salad and a chocolate-mousse cake on a decorative plate, all for the equivalent of about $46.

Food writer/author Robert Sietsema certainly knows food (fast and otherwise), so his article for the Village Voice on the 10 fast-food items that are actually enjoyable is right up his alley. To make the list, Sietsema and colleagues polled friends and spent two weeks (too long) actually tasting the stuff -- from Wendy's to White Castle to KFC to Taco Bell.

Since the Village Voice is New York based, you won't find favorites like an In-N-Out burger on the list, but you will find a chicken biscuit from Popeyes.

Head over to the Village Voice for the remaining nine items.

Maybe getting dolled up as the spitting image of Colonel Sanders (as lookalike C.J. Sizemore, above, did) isn't your first idea for a Halloween costume. But would you make like the portly white-suited southern man with the goatee if you were offered a lifetime of free fried chicken--or any KFC chicken, for that matter? Throw on the fake beard and the suit, and work a string tie like you were born in Louisville, then shoot a picture of yourself (from now until November 4th) to enter KFC's DoubliciousDouble Halloween costume contest (held to promote the chain's Doublicious sandwich and mark the 120th anniversary of Sanders' birth). The best doppelganger of the colonel wins. Even if it's your child or pet. (We're just guessing, but schnauzers might have an advantage, with the built-in beard.)