At the turn of this year, I decided as one of my New Year's resolutions to give up eating all meat apart from fish in an attempt to lose weight. It produced mixed results; while I still have a physique best described as "potato-like", I feel a lot healthier and lighter on my feet, and I don't particularly miss meat all too often. That is, however, with the exception of fried chicken.
I didn't even eat fried chicken much even when I had the option; while I don't mind it, it's certainly not my favourite fast food. But since the moment that I'd mentally outlawed it, even the slightest waft of the scent of fried chicken has me drooling like Pavlov's dogs. So you can imagine I was pretty excited to hear about KFC's latest menu item.
Of course, over the last couple of years, whenever KFC have come out with something new, they've more often than not produced something insane rather than anything that directly serves the Finger-Lickin' public out there. Think launching a chicken sandwich into space, or creating a romance novel in line with Mother's Day.
Over the next seven years or so, KFC in the UK have pledged to cut calories on their meals by as much as 20 percent, and one way they've gone about doing that is introducing meals under 600 calories. But now, the vegetarians among you will be delighted to hear that KFC are officially working on the first vegetarian fried chicken option for a major fast food chain, and it'll contain all the 11 herbs and spices of the Original Recipe chicken that has captured so many of our hearts.
The fried chicken behemoth hopes that their new vegetarian option "[offers] the great taste of KFC to new and existing customers who are changing their dining habits," and this writer for one can't wait to sink their teeth into some of this vegetarian fried chicken. It promises to be a very unique experience.
This new development will first roll out in the UK, where smaller chains such as Temple of Seitan have already made tentative steps into the world of chicken-free chicken. It'll be interesting, then, to see how a flagship brand matches up; talking to Foodbeast, KFC have revealed: "the development of the recipe is still in its very early stages, and so the options we’re exploring in our kitchen are still top secret."
"Once we’ve perfected the recipe we aim to test with customers this year, and if all goes well, we hope to launch a new vegetarian option in 2019."
2019? That could be as little as six months away, but for KFC, that's still not soon enough; they're hoping that their vegetarian option can match up to McDonald's McVegan, or the Impossible Burger currently available at White Castle. KFC in the USA have so far declined to comment (reinforcing the idea that this will be a UK-only launch for now), but with any luck, we could soon be enjoying KFC's delicious offerings regardless of our dietary requirements.
.jpg_h8MTHP?tr=h-184)
