Stomach In A Bowl

When it comes to the culinary arts, presentation is not everything, but it is something.

Kentucky Fried Chicken seems to have forgotten this.

Lately I’ve been seeing ads for what KFC calls its "Famous Bowls."

That itself is offputting. I always hate it when marketers suddenly proclaim some newly invented product that nobody has ever heard of before "famous." Fame is not something you can simply proclaim right out the gate. It is something that only can be known with the passage of time, and it is a form of dehumanizing marketing that treats consumers as objects rather than subjects to proclaim something "famous" from the very first moment it is released to the public.

Same thing goes for declaring things "hits" or "best-sellers" before they are, in fact, hits or best-sellers. I remember back in 1978, when the original (and ultra-campy) Battlestar Galactica was about to debut and I saw an add in a sci-fi magazine for some product (a toy or something) based on the "hit" TV show Battlestar Galactica–which wasn’t a hit at all in that it hadn’t even hit the airwaves yet!

Didn’t like this kind of deceptive, dehumanizing marketing then, and don’t like it now.

I suspect, however, that KFC’s "Famous" Bowls may come to be regarded with time as its infamous bowls–and for reasons that have nothing to do with the adjective.

The fact is, the product strikes me as simply disgusting. Basically, they’ve taken everything they happen to already have on hand at KFC and jammed it all into a bowl. It’s like taking everything you might eat at a KFC meal and mixing it all up together (especially onces your spoon, or fork, or spork starts digging into it).

Here’s how their web site describes it in an attempt to make it sound appetizing:

We start with a generous serving of our creamy mashed potatoes, layered with sweet corn and loaded with bite-sized pieces of crispy chicken. Then we drizzle it all with our signature home-style gravy and top it off with a shredded three-cheese blend. It’s all your favorite flavors coming together.

Seeing the thing doesn’t make it seem any more appetizing:

Bowls_potato

If you see them layering these things together one at a time in a TV ad, it’s even more disgusting.

This morning at Catholic Answers, two of my colleagues and I were discussing this, and we were all appalled at the fact KFC would even consider marketing something like this. One of my colleagues referred to it as "a heart attack in a bowl."

(Which is not surprising since sudden, massive jolts of carbohydrates can cause arrhythmias–one of the reasons heart attacks spike after Thanksgiving and Christmas.)

They don’t exactly make finding the nutritional information on this monster easy, but if you poke around enough, you can come up with it. Here are the stats:

Calories: 720
Fat: 32 grams (that’s half the fat the USDA wants you to have in a day)
Saturated Fat: 9 grams (again, that’s half the saturated fat the USDA recommends for a whole day)
Cholesterol: 65 milligrams
Sodium: 2390 milligrams (that’s all the salt you’re supposed to have for a whole day)
Carbohydrates: 81 grams (it takes me three days to eat that many on my diet)
Protein: 29 grams
SOURCE.

So . . . you wolf one of these things down at lunch and your system gets hit with a massive load of fat, carbohydrates, and salt all at once. Just what your heart and circulatory system needs.

This bad boy is thus high-fat, high-carb, high-salt. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

But the most startling thing is not how unhealthy the "Famous" Bowls are. It’s the idea that KFC would think that people would actually find this combination appetizing.

Yes, I know that when you eat a meal it all goes to one place and gets mixed up there, but–as I noted at the outset–presentation is an important part of the culinary arts, and this product completely ignores that fact in a lazy attempt to get a new product by simply dumping ingredients they already have on hand into a bowl.

I might not have had a problem (when I was on a high-carb diet) eating deep-fried, breaded chicken and mashed potatoes at the same meal, but I didn’t want deep-fried breaded chunks of chicken in my mashed potatoes. Nor do I want gravy on corn or cheese on gravy.

YUCK!

So while what you eat does all go to one place, I have no desire whatsoever to eat a KFC version of "Stomach in a Bowl."

Now, I know what you’re thinking: De gustibus non disputandum est, interpreting rhe de gustibus part quite literally in this case.

I’m sure that KFC has done some market research that shows at least some people will like this thing. Some here on the blog may even find it appetizing. But I can’t shake the feeling here that we’re looking at a potential marketing disaster.

I mean, not one of "New Coke" caliber, but . . . say . . . the kind of product flop that met Ray Kroc when he found his burger sales plummeting in Catholic areas in Lent back in the 1950s and–since he didn’t want to allow his McDonalds’ restaurants to sell fish sandwiches so that fish would be "stinking up the place," he proposed an alternative and let the customers decide which they preferred.

Which did they prefer?

Let’s just say that McDonalds started serving Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

123 thoughts on “Stomach In A Bowl”

  2. Jimmy, the day has come. We finally disagree on something.
    I get a KFC bowl at least once a week, and wow it’s awesome. It’s like a salad for people who hate vegetables, like me.
    I’ve even manage to lose weight with that monster in my diet, and that’s hard since I’m only 15 or so pounds off my “fighting” weight. Granted, I consider it a treat and not a part of a balanced daily, but my what a treat it is.
    I was able to whether the election results OK.
    But now I am sad.

  3. What I really enjoy about the KFC commercials for this monstrosity is that the petite houswife is the one who orders it– I mean, I can see a college frat type guy with 10 beers thinking this is a good idea, but a chick? Did they do any focus grouping here?
    Yeah, I said chick.

  5. That should be “weather” the election results. I’m so distraught I forgot how to spell.

  6. The photo graphically reflects my feelings on politics, today.
    Why don’t they dump a pile of slaw on top of the whole thing? Now that would be a memorable dish.

  7. Who remembers when Shake ‘n Bake came out with their “new and improved original recipe”?

  8. I’ll second the notion that this food item is disgusting, but that’s to me. This is one issue where being personally opposed but is a legitimate stance.

  12. Why, you’re all a bunch of Finger Lickin’ Heathens!
    I dare you all to try one, THEN come tell us what you think. Who’s with me?!

  13. It’s really funny to see this on jimmyakin.org … I recently saw the TV commercial and also thought that this was the most disgusting looking thing that I’ve ever seen.

  17. I don’t get it. Maybe it’s because I like to mix food together before I eat it. I’ll mix corn with mashed potatoes or rice with a piece of steak and eat them together. Taste better that way to me. I always eat eggs or pancakes together with a bit of the breakfast meat. (On the few occasions I eat that stuff.) Bob Evans used to make a breakfast meal of an open omlette in a bowl with potatoes, sausage, some sort of gravy like topping and grated cheese. It was great (again on the few times I tried it).
    As for the dietary amounts, if this is one of two meals a person eats in a day it can’t be a horrible thing that they are getting half the daily recommended fat content can it? Or is it bad to take it in too quickly? As a “once in a while” meal, it hardly seems like a death penalty.
    I’ve never tried this meal, and probably won’t, so I can’t say whether it’s tasty or not. But it sure doesn’t turn me off by presentation in the least.

  18. My wife and I thought it was a joke. However, we’ve reached the point in America where the only thing that keeps the deep-fried Twinkie off the market is extreme restraint. Look for it soon!

  19. The first time I saw the commercial I was in my first trimester of pregnancy (#5) and it almost made me need to run to the restroom. Now I’m in my third trimester and just about any food is appealing…and it still makes me want to run to the facilities!
    I’m with you Jimmie…it appears to be pretty gross. I’m glad that someone likes it, but it’s not for me!

  20. That KFC bowl thingy would definitely appeal to me when I’m down in the dumps. It’s the ultimate comfort food — carbs/fats/salt be damned! (who wants to eat healthily when they’re depressed???)
    And I must say, Ray Kroc’s Hula Burger (mentioned in your link) sounds intriguing enough for me to try it! What a weird combination!

  21. So KFC seems successful in selling Vomit in a Bowl
    What’s next?
    Taco Bell selling Diarrhea in a Burrito?
    Ohhhh… wait… that’s actually been done!
    Sorry for the bad image … ewwwwww!!!!
    Had to lighten things up considering the long night!

  22. mmmm, it looks sooooooooooo good! I want one right now! But then again, I am pregnant, so weird things seem appetizing to me…

  24. Sorry, going to have to re-read the post, I started dancing and shooting my imaginary pistols at the ceiling as soon as I saw the picture.
    That looks like the greatest, most delicious cereal ever.

  25. Sorry, but this doesn’t strike me as all that different from shepherd’s pie, which has been around for a while and is quite palatable; or chicken-pot-pie, minus mashed potatoes.
    Jimmy’s objections sound alot like the three-year-old inside all of us, protesting: “Eww! There’s a pea that rolled into my mashed potatoes!”
    I haven’t seen the commercials, so maybe that’s the source of the barf-factor. To each his own, I reckon.

  26. Nor do I want… cheese on gravy
    Have you ever heard of Poutine? Gravy and cheese curds on French fries. Canada’s big fast food dish.
    Gosh, I’m starving. I think I’m going to go get some.

  28. My families been eating this kind of stuff for decades. You’re one of those people who cannot stand to have their food touch aren’t you? 🙂

  29. I haven’t seen the commercials, so maybe that’s the source of the barf-factor. To each his own, I reckon.
    You got to have seen the commercial in order to understand why when I first saw it, it struck me as VOMIT in a bowl!
    They actually showed the seperate items that would go into the bowl sequentially as they fell into the bowl (at least, this was the one that aired in my area).
    It looked no different than the stuff hurling out of somebody’s mouth after a bad night of partying!

  30. The first time it aired on tv our 9 & 11 year old said together “EEEEEEWWWWWW GROSS”
    Not wanting to be unheard, our 2year old said
    “YUCK”
    NOW keep in mind, they don’t mind mixing it themselves but they want it separately on the plate, they want to mix the corn with the potatoes themselves.
    I will never waste my money on it for sure!!
    That was interesting, Jimmy, about the heartattacks being more after Thanksgiving and Christmas.

  31. The first time it aired on tv our 9 & 11 year old said together “EEEEEEWWWWWW GROSS”
    The first time it aired, I couldn’t stop laughing! I thought it was one of those fake commercials that would come out every once in a while.
    Then, when I found out it was actually a real commercial, I just rolled off the floor!

  32. I don’t have strong feelings about it, but I bet the folks at KFC were trying to make their food look more like Mexican food.
    I somewhat doubt that the consumers of Mexican food will fall for it. They would have been better off making chili powdered jalepeno Chicken.

  33. I agree with Jimmy. When I first saw the commercial, well, let’s just say it’s a good thing someone didn’t take a picture of me right then. The look of disgust!!
    And then, the first comment from Christine. I agree (although it’s Carl’s Jr in California), seeing and hearing people eat is not real appetizing to me either.

  34. Fat? Carbs? Salt? All mixed together in a bowl?
    What’s not to like? I say, bring it on!

  35. While this thing strikes me as unhealthy (not any more so than most other fast food), I don’t get the ‘stomach in a bowl yuck’ thing. Just last night I made macaroni and cheese, and I just added the peas and tuna fish right into the pot. One pot cooking, yum!

  36. Mmmm….When I first saw the commercial, I thought…weird, someone’s been watching me eat! I love to pile my potatoes, meat, corn/peas, gravy up together when I eat a big dinner. Sure, add cheese! Maybe I wouldn’t eat it regularily if I was watching my weight, but as comfort food occasionally….yum!

  37. Okay… After JohnH’s and Kate’s posts above… I think I just might… yeah, I think just might…oh no, here it comes…
    H-U-R-L!!! ;^)
    (add to that, the picture that Jimmy posted ain’t helpin’!)

  40. Actually, you know how I mentioned the particular KFC commercial that aired in my area, showing the seperate items falling into the bowl sequentially?
    SNIP
    Apologies for the graphic picture there!
    I mean, just look at the thing — generous serving of creamy mashed potatoes –> layered with sweet corn –> loaded with bite-sized pieces of crispy chicken –> drizzled with gravy and top it off with a shredded three-cheese blend!
    I think this calls for that famous song from Parenthood (censored version, of course)!
    SNIP

  41. I dunno, it makes me think of a hot-dish equivalent to Togo’s Thanksgiving Dinner sandwich: turkey, dressing, gravy, and cranberries on a sub roll. It wasn’t bad, just confusing. Not that I don’t get how a confusing food can be off-putting.

  42. Sifu Jones and the other KFC Famous Bowl lovers, add me to your list. I only wish they had more of that Famous Original Recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken (the all-time best chicken) in the bowl. Next time I will order it with an extra helping of chicken or maybe a blend with those Famous Boneless Wings!!! “Yum, yum in the tummy”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    And I take my “Ruler One” and leave.

  43. I’m starting to form a theory about Catholics and health/environment issues. Hey I’m Catholic and I look at that commercial and wonder how many grams of trans fat is in it, if the chicken that was used was pumped up with hormones and antibiotics, how much pesticide residue still clings to the flaccid yellow corn adorning the bowl as the only ‘vegitable.’ But, hey I eat organic and believe in stewardship and think that kfc is basically like metabolising a heresy…false, false food with no nutrition.
    But, hey I was raised in California…Catholic but Crunchy.

  44. As a Kentuckian, and therefore a lover of KFC, fried chicken, and gravy I whole-heartedly object to Jimmy’s objection to the KFC Famous Bowls. They are delicious. KFC has never been known as a health-food restaraunt, nor shall it ever. To eat there, and ecspecially to eat such a tasty combination of foods that make up a Famous Bowl is to enjoy taste, not nutrition.

  45. That’s the problem; who says that healthy food doesn’t taste good? Does something have to be so bad(trans-fats…) that your body doesn’t even recognize the fats as being a ‘fat’ and it sits in your body well after decomposition occures. (slight hyperbole ) Indeed those trans fats may be hanging around the synthetic fibers of caskets far into the future and they may witness the ressurection of the faithful. That’s just not natural man. Eat the food that God gave us, we don’t need to cook something else up by splitting molecules in test labs… Food heresy!

  46. Hey I’m Catholic and I look at that commercial and wonder how many grams of trans fat is in it…
    Actually…check this out:
    KFC joins war against trans fat
    Excerpt:
    The war against trans fat registered a major victory on Monday as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) — whose main course is deep fried — announced that it would remove the artery-clogging substance from its fryers.
    KFC said it would replace partially hydrogenated soybean oil with a type of soybean oil that does not contain trans fat at its 5,500 restaurants in the US.
    The conversion, which came after two years of testing, is expected to be completed by April. While trans fat will be eliminated from KFC’s chicken and its other fried products, it will remain in its biscuits, potpies and some desserts because a good alternative has not yet been found.
    http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2006/11/01/2003334323

  48. I really can’t believe that this is here…
    I just love the KFC Bowl – I also have one about one per week. To me, it is the perfect serving size and tastes great… yes, kind of like Shepherd’s Pie. I also grew up mixing my food together.
    I can’t believe the strong sentiments above. Hey, no one has a gun to your head forcing you to order one.
    This reminds me of people that I know that are on a diet and get a Big Mac and a Diet Coke… so that makes about 1000 and one calories.
    and if you are going to start blogs about stupid commercials on TV… let’s do it.
    I will start with the ads for every company that sells every pickup truck or SUV.
    my stomach is ok… it’s my intelligence that is being assaulted.

  49. Trans-fats? Listen up folks, a bunch of our food industry people are using a loophole in this whole trans-fat issue. They are starting to use “fully hydrogenated” oils in it’s place. I don’t mean to get into organic chemistry, but technically, if you fully hydrogenate a fat or oil, there are no trans-fats present. However, this new oil/fat is even farther from natural than before. Just say no.

  51. Look, I’m not a big fan of this meal myself (unlike, again, the missus) but, some of y’all have taken this a bit far.
    Hey, Ruth, I have two titanium plates in my hand and 12 total screws in my body. I’m sure the worms will have had a delicious trans-fat luncheon (and be long gone) long before those ever disintegrate.
    Besides, didn’t God give us our intellect to be able to do things like perform surgery and create new food sources?

  53. “I have two titanium plates in my hand and 12 total screws in my body.”
    There goes my dream of being a Stunt-man/Actor. 🙂

  56. “Besides, didn’t God give us our intellect to be able to do things like perform surgery and create new food sources?”
    Web, isn’t that a faulty line of logic that many use for 1) invitro fertilization 2) artificial contraception? The logic is flawed.
    I am not saying that dogmatically they are the same….sometimes what our body can metabolize best is what we were made to eat. Trans fats are just like putting plastic into your body when your body needs some….butter, good old fashion fat. ; – )

  57. And by the way Kris, My family now lives in Kentucky….which has one of the worst health crisis of obesity, cancer, and diabetes….well except for the Native American populations in the southwest who love fast food.
    Yet still, I do love Kentucky, Bishop Flaget and the Catholic respit of Nelson County, Pottingers field where the Catholics of Maryland fled to because of persicution.

  59. Y’all certainly take your food almost as seriously as you would an apologetics argument! ;^)
    Now, let’s all make peace and join hands and will y’all just join me in singing a verse or two of our spiritual hymn:
    SNIP ;^)

  61. Ruth: It was meant tongue-in-cheek. At the same time, I’d wonder if there are any moral laws that are transgressed by eating transfat. Is MSG consumption listed in the Catechism anywhere?
    David B: Sorry to be the one to crush your hopes and dreams. But someone was gonna try to crush ’em, so I figured “Hey, what the heck; why not me?”

  63. Web, sometimes the transgressions of asthetics and common sense are enough.
    So sad. I need some organic butter and some red wine…….

  64. Esau: I won’t join hands to sing, but uh, that song might be better than some I’ve heard at Mass.
    Mr. Weber, Sir, as much as I’d hate to say it, I certainly might agree with you there! Most unfortunate, isn’t it???? =^(

  65. Crap, messed up my sad face, darn’it!
    =^(
    (oooopppssss… shouldn’t have said the “C” word after all that!)

  66. Hey, I live in Los Angeles right now, so I know from transgressions of aesthetics. Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, anyone? And common sense … well, as I said, I live in LaLaLand.
    Organic butter? Why not get some Olestra ™?

  67. Have you not heard what olestra does to the digestive function….? Esau’s song would be on point.

  68. It’s Like a “Mr. Creosote” appetizer:
    Maitre D: And maintenant, would monsieur care for an aperitif?
    [Creosote vomits over the menu. It is covered.]
    Or would you prefer to order straight away? Today for appetizers… er… excuse me…
    [The Maitre D leans over and wipes away the sick with his hand so that the words of the menu are readable.]
    … moules marinieres, pate de foie gras, beluga caviar, eggs Benedictine, tart de poireaux – that’s leek tart – frogs’ legs amandine or oeufs de caille Richard Shepherd – c’est a dire, little quails’ eggs on a bed of pureed mushrooms, it’s very delicate, very subtle…
    Mr Creosote: I’ll have the lot.
    Maitre D: A wise choice, monsieur! And now, how would you like it served? All mixed up in a bucket?
    Mr Creosote: Yes. With the eggs on top.
    Maitre D: But of course, avec les oeufs frites.
    Mr Creosote: And don’t skimp on the pate.
    Maitre D: Oh monsieur I can assure you, just because it is mixed up with all the other things we would not dream of giving you less than the full amount. In fact I will personally make sure you have a *double* helping. Maintenant quelque chose a boire – something to drink, monsieur?
    Mr Creosote: Yeah, six bottles of Chateau Latour ’45 and a double Jeroboam of champagne.
    Maitre D: Bon, and the usual brown ales…?
    Mr Creosote: Yeah… No wait a minute… I think I can only manage six crates today.

  70. I guess now isn’t the time to admit that my family has a post holiday tradition called Thanksgiving Mush. You layer turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy in a bowl, heat it up and mix it around. I have heard of people who also add cranberry sauce to this, but we never did. I thought this was a “Texas thang”, but since Jimmy is from these parts and seems disturbed by this type of culinary creation, I guess not.
    While I have never tried one of the KFC bowls, I agree that it sounds similar to a Shepherd’s Pie, albeit a deep fried shepherd’s pie with cheese on top!

  71. Doesn’t look very good to me, but jeeze.
    “Its got too much fat!” “Its got too much salt!” “Its got too many carbs!”
    Turn in your hat and boots, Mr. Akin, and go sip a white wine spritzer.

  72. it would be a lot better if they deep fried the whole thing. Actually, it is just like shepherds pie only with cheese. Which I love, otherwise it seems gross. I don’t use fried chicken in my shepherds pie, nor that much salt.
    We eat el pollo loco at our house, which is roaster rather than deep fried.

  73. Now,
    I like shepard’s pie. In fact, I actually love mixing some of my foods together like corn, mashed potatoes and gravy but there are three things keeping me from ever trying one of these bowls. Firstly, my family and I had come home late from a Memorial day trip and we didn’t have anything to cook. Someone suggested KFC and so my mother and I went to get it. I hadn’t had it in about ten years and soon discovered why. All the artifical flavors they put in the spices in the chicken threw me right into an asthma attack… miles of fun. Reason two is that I really don’t like shredded cheese on stuff. I mean I like it on tochos and pizza and things like that but not on fries, or hotdish or chili or stuff like that so this loses it’s apeal very quickly with the adding of cheese. I actually remember saying to my sister upon seeing the add for the first time, it would be ok if they dropped the cheese. The last reason is in agreement with what others have already said, too much fat, too much salt and way way too much carbs. This really makes me want to kick-start weight-watchers this Sunday, wish me luck!

  74. After trying it, I suspect that KFC invented the “bowl” as a way to dispose of leftover food. Scrape the leavings from the bottom of the pan and serve’m up. Bland and nasty!
    Now Pollo Loco is a different matter — sabroso!
    🙂

  75. My stomach was sore after the election results this morning.please have mercy on me and my stomach….the more I read….the more it aches…..
    BTW I like the dressing, gravy, trukey and cranberry sauce together.
    I think it was the way KFC presented it.

  76. Have you not heard what olestra does to the digestive function….? Esau’s song would be on point.
    Hallelujah, Sistah, will you sing it with me! =^)
    Can I get an “AMEN”! ;^)

  77. After trying it, I suspect that KFC invented the “bowl” as a way to dispose of leftover food. Scrape the leavings from the bottom of the pan and serve’m up.
    What a great way both to save and make money — out of people’s leftovers!!! MMMmmmmmm….mmmmm…GOOD!

  78. MMMM…layers of fat and salt. Now that’s really flavor. Can’t wait for the lawsuits to start rolling in.

  80. I guess that Bowl’s how orthodox Catholicism looks like to cafeteria Catholics. You get the whole ‘mess’ and can’t pick and choose.

  81. If it came without gravy I might try it. (But then I remember those are heathen mashed potatoes, not the real thing. 🙂 )

  82. This reminds me of people that I know that are on a diet and get a Big Mac and a Diet Coke… so that makes about 1000 and one calories.
    I hear people say this often but it never fails to chap me. Maybe someone’s having a rare treat day, but the extra few hundred calories in a normal Coke is something they’d rather not have. Every little bit does add up. Just because you treat yourself once in a while doesn’t mean you have to go all out AND get the useless sugar too. Big Macs have 560 calories. A large McDonald’s coke is 310 calories. That’s a high payload just for something to wash your other 560 calories down. That’s about an hour of walking. That 310 calories saved could be applied to another meal during the day in a much better way. I say, kudos to any person who does this, and leave them alone when they do. The choice does make a difference in the right direction.

  87. To those who don’t understand a Big Mac with Diet Coke, some of us crave fried foods, but not sweets. A Diet Coke is sweet enough for me.

  89. Hey. Where’s my comment? I’ll say it again…
    I say we all donat a one year lunch supply of these things to all the new house and senate leadership.
    One year should do it, ya think?

  90. O.K., apparently I became anonymous again. I’m going to have to keep track of how often this happens. Seems like it’s every couple of months.

  91. WRT the Big Mac and Diet Coke discussion: Granted some people might be saving their calories on a rare treat day. But, by the looks of most people who do this, I doubt it. (And anyway, who with any taste would consider fast food a treat?) People are both amazingly ignorant about nutrition and prone to extreme rationalization when bellying up for their fat fixes. The same kind of thinking would have a person go to Wendy’s, order the salad bar, and then proceed to smother the greens with bacon bits, croutons and a cup of dressing. Salad bars are probably the biggest “killers” because the amount of extra calories you can put on a supposedly “good for you” meal is limitless.
    When I saw the ad for the KFC bowl, I was pretty disgusted. To each his own, I guess, but I can’t imagine the thing catching on.

  92. Oh, so, so, so, so funny!
    Thank you Jimmy for starting this!
    But haven’t you noticed that the cuisines of traditionally Catholic countries are usually superior? Just think of Italy, France, Spain, and Mexico. And the traditional food in Orthodox countries is very good too. And we might add in the cuisines of countries that have an ancient Natural Law tradition, such as China, India, and Japan. The Natural Law has much to do with the transfat/sugar issue, I would think; I’d love to see a good Thomistic analysis of cuisine.
    Also, I think this has a lot to do with the modern opposition between art and utility. Obviously, the stomach-bowl does provide energy for living, so it is very utilitarian, but it lacks beauty. To the ancients though, everything made is art, and beauty should be a part of everything good, including food.

  93. One more thing that trumps this KFC concoction…
    Remember Krystal and the chili commerical where chili was flung on everyone and everything…but it looked like something else..? Did anyone want to go out and have THAT added to their french fries or burger? Our family agrees with Jimmy, it is the way they presented it. YUCK.

  94. In the same vein, if ya’ll get the chance, read “Omnivore’s Delemma” by Michael Pollan. A great read about food.
    Yes. It’s about food… and it IS a great read. Honest.

  96. Well come on now, they also have a rice version instead of mashed potatoes.
    Ruth, are you making one of those “if God meant us to fly, he would’ve given us wings” arguments? Just because God didn’t make it with His own two hands doesn’t mean we can’t use it when WE make it. Obviously sometimes we can’t (in-vitro, contraception), but other times we can (books, cars, KFC bowls).
    Besides, if there’s any sin in doing something “less” healthy rather than the “most” healthy possibility, it would then be sinful to smoke, drink beer, or eat even an ounce more nutrition than we actually need. And don’t even get me started on not doing enough exercise, or (God fobid) doing too MUCH exercise!
    I suppose I’ve seen one too many people fall into honest-to-goodness scrupulosity over FOOD to take health food craziness lying down. I save my lying down for when I’ve had one too many fried twinkies.
    And yes, they’re really good.

  98. and if you are not from Hawai’i, I can’t believe that anyone would eat poi.
    “…sometimes what our body can metabolize best is what we were made to eat. Trans fats are just like putting plastic into your body when your body needs some….butter, good old fashion fat. ; – )”
    Ruth – you hit the nail on the proverbial head.
    Question of the day: what happened in the food industry in the mid-1980’s, about the time the rate of obesity in the USA started to balloon (no pun intended)?
    Answer: the forced introduction into the food chain of “High Fructose Corn Syrup” (HFCS) replacing sugar.
    HFCS is in EVERYTHING (just look at ingredients of everything you buy and eat / drink) and studies show that there is no way for the body to metabolize HFCS, as well as Trans Fat – thus, it just stores up in fat cells.

  99. How can these all-natural foods be all-natural when they are cleaned with synthetic detergents and rinsed with water purified with all types of chemicals? Without cleaning, we would all be affected by those little all-natural bugs call E-Coli and Salmonella.
    And by the way, most of the kids that work at our KFC are from the local Catholic high school. Without KFC, they would not be able to pay their tuition.
    Bring me another Famous Bowl but user a bigger bowl!!!

  100. How can these all-natural foods be all-natural when they are cleaned with synthetic detergents and rinsed with water purified with all types of chemicals? Without cleaning, we would all be affected by those little all-natural bugs call E-Coli and Salmonella.
    Realist,
    What’s with this extreme obsession you have with cleanliness? You practically were saying the same thing as regards the reception of Holy Communion in Church?
    Brutha, that may mean you’ve got some unresolved issues and need to do some soul-searching and go to confession. Believe me, there’s a reason Jesus established it! =^)
    And by the way, most of the kids that work at our KFC are from the local Catholic high school. Without KFC, they would not be able to pay their tuition.
    I don’t think people found anything wrong with KFC but with the famous bowl itself (at least, mine in particular!).
    High school ehhh–isn’t there a law about some folks who shouldn’t be allowed… never mind!
    (now, that was a rather bad joke! apologies…)

  101. Marty,
    As someone who was very very broke in when laid off from work, I discovered, that my bias against heavy people was very unfounded. The inexpensive food at the grocery stores is chock full of carbs, so much so, that even when I was down to spending $40 a month on groceries (and that was stretching the budget) I actually gained about 75 lbs in a 9 and 1/2 month period. There was no eating less, as many times I was only eating every other day. McDonald’s was a treat in that even if it was a minuscule amount, you got some protein, and something besides mac&cheese, bread and whatever, or cheap cereal in a bag. After I got a job and was back on my feet, and able to buy higher priced foods and was able to add more protein to my diet and reduce the carbs, I lost much of that weight.
    So “by looking at the people” who order a diet coke, and a Big Mac, I can tell you that they probably drink a lot of water, and regular pop is too sweet, and 2nd if they are large, that they probably have a poor diet that is full of carbs, and it’s most likely because they can’t afford the good food that “people with taste” can afford.

  102. As someone who was very very broke in when laid off from work, I discovered, that my bias against heavy people was very unfounded. The inexpensive food at the grocery stores is chock full of carbs, so much so, that even when I was down to spending $40 a month on groceries (and that was stretching the budget) I actually gained about 75 lbs in a 9 and 1/2 month period. There was no eating less, as many times I was only eating every other day…
    Actually, Greg here may be right.
    I know someone who could only afford some cheap canned foods and only certain times in the course of the week. However, because of the awful unhealthy content of those cheap canned foods she could afford, she could not actually help but gain the tremendous amount of weight as a result of the canned foods she consumed due to such hard times.

  103. If you ever find yourself too poor for anything but canned foods, remember you can buy a bag of lentils for around $1.00, throw in a little salt, potato or rice, and you have a healthy, low fat meal with protein, fiber, reasonable amount of carbs, and that $1.00 bag will feed a family. Same goes for the other dried beans.
    The mainstream grocery stores tend to be quite pricy anyway – I usually find some alternate store and buy bulk beans and rice for much less/lb.

  104. Esau,
    Jesus established “Confession”? Are you sure? There is much debate about it but that discussion will have to wait for a different thread.
    Hey Monk pass the Wet Wipes and Listerine, I just got back from Mass and Confession at a megaChurch.

  105. Realist,
    You crack me up!
    It almost seems that even if it were Jesus himself who tried to shake your hands, you’d first ask someone for a wetnap before you even considered shaking it!

  106. Marty:
    WRT the Big Mac and Diet Coke discussion: Granted some people might be saving their calories on a rare treat day. But, by the looks of most people who do this, I doubt it.
    I just don’t see what’s wrong with saving some sugar. That’s never a bad thing. And if they are dieting, then it goes without saying that they’re carrying some baggage, otherwise they wouldn’t be dieting. We were talking about people who were dieting.
    (And anyway, who with any taste would consider fast food a treat?)
    That’s highly subjective. I’m a “foodie” who loves to make good, nutritious food but also don’t think McDonald’s is entirely revolting. (There’s a lot of pressure in the foodie world to deny that certain things taste good; I roll my eyes at it.) I haven’t had McDonald’s for a couple of months, and personally wouldn’t have it more than once every one or two months, just because my body deserves and needs better nutrition, and I can easily live without it. So to have this for a treat, ideally it needs to be rarer than a lot of people think, and portions need to be controlled–but it is no worse than someone treating themselves with something like pecan pie or a super-sized chocolate bar. Few people criticize dieters for that! Gotta use some reason here.
    If I’m out and about with people who want something quick at McDonald’s, I’ll probably get one or two simple hamburgers (no cheese or sauce, just ketchup, mustard and a pickle) and a Diet Coke. And I won’t fret because that’s easy to fit in and still have a calorie deficit for the day. So leave me and my Diet Coke alone. 🙂 My eating 99% of the time is very healthy. I’m able to fit in treats of just about any kind and still lose weight when following a healthy eating plan. Too much sugar, otherwise refined stuff, and inactivity were issues I had which were easy to correct and I’ve lost 13 pounds with little effort.
    People are both amazingly ignorant about nutrition and prone to extreme rationalization when bellying up for their fat fixes.
    Perhaps, but it’s very difficult to find a non-brain-dead person alive who hasn’t been told at least a few dozen times how bad and fattening fast food is. McDonald’s is often the example given which is most illustrative of this. And that’s why you might see someone who’s dieting, occasionally getting a Big Mac fix washed down with a Diet Coke.

  107. I guess I started my own something. First to Greg: When I was young, (back in the 60s), grotesque obesity was pretty rare compared to today. But it seemed to me even then that many very fat people were from the lower economic classes. But now, with grotesque obesity increasingly commonplace, I see it has also become increasingly common in all classes, except possibly the uppermost. (Though, without citing any sociological statistics, I would venture to guess that it is still disproportionately found in the lower classes.) But I now live in a pretty uppper middle class town. I see plenty of fairly well off portly people who didn’t get that way because they were living off of mac and cheese.
    I think all these observations point to a number of explanations, all coming from me as an amateur armchair sociologist/psychologist. First, very few people are starving to death in this country. Food is cheap and getting cheaper. The cheapest easy-to-prepare food tends to be junk. High carb, with a fair amount of fat thrown in. What’s always amazed me is that unprepared food, over which you have a lot more control over, is almost always even cheaper, yet people, even relatively poor people, tend to buy slightly more expensive junk. Perhaps convenience is a factor. And maybe ignorance (many people, poor or not, are pretty ignorant, or careless, of nutrition).
    But all food, not just junk food, has gotten cheaper and living standards (incomes) have increased since the 60s. It’s ridiculously cheap to eat out these days compared to then. There are more two-income households with less time to prepare meals at home. More disposable income to “treat” themselves. Portion size has also gone up. Since the food, as restaurants pay for it, is dirt cheap, it’s easy to offer huge portions, to “supersize”, and garner bigger profits. A lot of this creeps into the culture of eating. People want food, lots of it, fast and cheap.
    To Karen: There’s nothing wrong with saving calories. I do it myself. My now-skinny sister has been on a very successful diet for several years that revolves around doing just that. It can be done. My point was that it often isn’t done. People, through ignorance, sometimes think they are saving calories at a salad bar when they’re not. People, through rationalization, will buy a calorie-and-fat-loaded meal and “wash away the sin” with a diet coke. And do it regularly, not just as a treat.
    I think it’s really tough to stay healthy, to subdue gluttony, in a society of such ridiculous plenty. Especially when everything seems geared toward making you buy more, cheap junk.

  108. In the Cité Soleil slum in Haiti, the desperate residents make patties out of ordinary dirt, water, butter and seasonings to sell and eat. It fills the belly.
    Here in U.S., we have “greater” concerns about our food.
    Thanksgiving is coming.

  110. “I can’t believe I ate kata holos.”
    Good one, Fadduh!
    I still remember that old Alka-Seltzer commercial… or was it Pepto Abysmal?

  111. From Monk episode –
    Monk – “It’s touching”
    Table Companion – “After all these years…”
    Monk, looking at plate – “No, I mean the food, it’s touching…”

  112. ABOUT MONK!
    Stanley Tucci was awesome in that episode “Mr. Monk and the Actor” where he actually mimicked and became Monk! What’s interesting is the fact that he was one of the folks considered to play the role of Monk in addition to Tony Shalhoub!

  113. Esau,
    You noted that I would not shake Jesus’ hand without a WetWipe in my other hand. You are correct since in first century Palestine there was/were 1. no sewage system, 2. no anti-biotics, 3. no knowledge of bacteria and viruses, 4. no doctors, 5. no detergents, 6. no water purifiers/filters, 7. no concept of sterilization, 8.no concept of proper diet and nutrition and 9. no protection from insects, fungi and parasites all resulting in significant plagues and epidemics. Because of this situation, life expectancy in this time period based on various estimates ranged from 25 to 45 years.
    See also: http://etd.unisa.ac.za/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-08022006-125807/unrestricted/02dissertation.pdf and http://www.joezias.com/HealthHealingLandIsrael.htm
    All of this reminded me to purchase a big box of WetWipes for my Pastor who even after many warnings continues to shake the hands of parishioners after each Sunday Mass. I will include a KFC gift certificate with the box. 🙂

  114. You noted that I would not shake Jesus’ hand without a WetWipe in my other hand. You are correct…
    Brutha, you may be out of your ‘Crossan’ mind, but you are certainly hilarious!
    But, really, come on??? It’s Jesus.
    So, if you were the blind person in the bible whom Jesus spit in his eyes in order to cure him, you would have said instead: “Jesus, if you’re gonna have to spit in my eye to cure me, then forget it!”
    You crack me up!
    Mark 8:22-26
    22 ¶ And they came to Bethsaida: and they bring to him a blind man. And they besought him that he would touch him.
    23 And taking the blind man by the hand, he led him out of the town. And spitting upon his eyes, laying his hands on him, he asked him if he saw any thing.
    24 And looking up, he said: I see men, as it were trees, walking.
    25 After that again he laid his hands upon his eyes: and he began to see and was restored, so that he saw all things clearly.
    26 And he sent him into his house, saying: Go into thy house, and if thou enter into the town, tell nobody.

  117. Jared,
    Me too!!! but the scenario appears to be Ruth declaring only organic food is worth eating followed by – the obvious that even organic food requires synthetics to grow (gasoline for tractors, steel for rakes, detergents for cleaning food and hands and bodies, chemicals to purify, sterilize, and filter cleaning and rinse water, followed by- Esau noting my interest in having sanitary holy water fonts and sterilized hands/mouths/lips for greetings and also for handling communion and the common Cup, followed by Esau’s relating physical cleanliness to spiritual cleanliness achieved by Confession- followed by the potential shaking of Jesus’ hands who Esau apparently believes were never contaminated with any of the bacteria, viruses and/or parasites of the first century even though He was a member of the lower Jewish, peasant class.
    Significant violations of the new Rule 1 by Esau and myself? Absolutely

  118. Jared: It was an inside joke between me and Realist
    Realist: The comments made were only in jest in response to your obsessive need for cleanliness here and in past posts; nothing else (although, I can understand why such a misunderstanding can occur since after all we can’t see the other’s facial expressions and not know it was merely made in good humour — thus, why some folks like Jared and you (?) might possibly misread it as being an insult)

  119. By the way, REALIST (and JARED, if you’re interested since you asked about how confession got into all this), your past posts said (which is the very reason why I replied as I did):
    REALIST: How can these all-natural foods be all-natural when they are cleaned with synthetic detergents and rinsed with water purified with all types of chemicals? Without cleaning, we would all be affected by those little all-natural bugs call E-Coli and Salmonella.
    Posted by: Realist | Nov 9, 2006 2:29:09 PM
    REALIST: Hey Monk pass the Wet Wipes and Listerine, I just got back from Mass and Confession at a megaChurch.
    Posted by: Realist | Nov 9, 2006 9:42:33 PM

  120. Esau,
    How does one work the spittle of Jesus into this thread?
    REALIST:
    Now do you know the answer to your question? After what you said above and plus the following where you, in fact, admitted to this:
    You noted that I would not shake Jesus’ hand without a WetWipe in my other hand. You are correct
    Posted by: Realist | Nov 10, 2006 8:19:29 PM

  121. Esau,
    But that gets into whether the fellow was really blind (diagnosed by an ETT specialist)or simply suffering from one of many eye conditions of this very unsanitary period of history. It also gets into who recorded the event, the time delay in recording the event, the typical embellishments by scribes of the day and why it is only listed in two of the Gospels. And why use spittle? Talk about added contamination of the eyes!!
    Again we are way off topic except to say thanks to the great sanitary conditions we have today, we can enjoy eating at any restaurant or shopping at any grocery store without fear of food poisoning or being temporarily blinded by something we ate i.e. an allergic reaction from an unlabeled food.

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