Call me a food snob, crunchy or crazy but I care about what I put in my body and that of family.  Whenever possible we eat organic fruit and vegetables, free-range/hormone free meat and I try to limit dyes, additives and refined food as much as possible.   But of course it is not always possible and just like everyone else sometimes we eat fast food–but only Chik-fil-A and NEVER McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell or anyplace else.  Today I broke that rule and was reminded to never do it again.

We were coming home from a day of hanging in the sun and needed to quickly grab dinner.   Someone suggested that we try Kentucky Fried Chicken’s new grilled chicken; not a place that I frequent often (I think I last ate there about 6 years ago), but I was intrigued by all the latest media hype.   Our nearest KFC is not in our neighborhood, but in the hood.  And here’s the first bad news: they didn’t sell the grilled chicken because the store has yet to have the necessary renovations.   What do you want to bet that the KFC’s in the burbs are first on the list for renovations?  Because I’m sure that KFC thinks that people in the hood don’t care about eating healthy anyway.  It’s just another ploy by the man to keep the disenfranchised pumped full of fat and grease and therefore not energetic enough to stage a revolution!  

Anyway, by now we were really hungry so we ordered a bucket of original recipe chicken, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.   I admit that the chicken was good (I tried not to think about the hormones), but the macaroni and cheese was not even edible.  Not only did it taste disgusting, it was a neon florescent orange that I have never seen in the natural world.  My daughter took a look and said, “Wow, that looks like it has lots of dye in it!”   

The photo doesn’t even do it justice; it is the color of a crossing guard’s vest.

Kentucky Fried Chicken, if you ever read this, please know that I am OFFENDED by the nasty slop that you are trying to pass off as macaroni and cheese.  You ought to be ashamed!  I know that you are trying to provide an economic meal, but can you PRETEND to serve quality food?  How can you advertise grilled chicken–a supposed healthy alternative to fried–but yet continue to sell a side item as unhealthy as that couldn’t-possibly-be-real-cheese crap?  My daughter said, “It looked fake and tasted like someone didn’t care about their customers.”  

Yes, baby, that’s exactly right.