sans commentaire...

Pretty old news, but I was tipped off a couple of weeks ago that Kentucky Fried Chicken - KFC, or "PFK" as they are known here in Le Québec - was market testing out a new 'sandwich' that does away with the bread buns, replacing them with two pieces of fried chicken. I'm trying to think of something witty to say here, but the video promo speaks for itself:

I tend to mostly stay away from American Fast Food - especially anything that could potentially hurt my chances of gittin' with Pam Anderson - but this extreme concoction is too, uhhh, extreme to pass up. If they release it here, I'm definitely going to have to try it.

Image courtesy of http://foodgeekery.com

As a foodie, the fact that it's a sandwich held together with chicken and not bread is pretty cool, although I suppose that basically just makes it a large chicken strip with the sauce. Of course, the fact that it's a KFC / mass marketing product generally means that most of all the conversation about it will be on blogs and forums complaining about how gross it looks. If it were the product of some independent, forward-thinking chicken joint in Seattle, SF or New York you'd have hipsters posting about it on Flickr and Twitter praising it for its originality.

At any rate, you have to hand it to KFC for one thing - they just put back in question everything it means to be a sandwich:

great leftovers
terrible planning
eating tzatziki with a spoon

Today, I eased my way back into my regular diet after spending 3 weeks in the U.S. eating, well, well... Ethiopian in Washington DC (obviously), and Mexifornian in SF. Not to mention all the munchies you get when, you know, you're in California.

Dude, did you know that Mike and Ikes cost, like less than a buck a box over there? They're like $3+ here! They are the food of the Gods, who must be benevolent, all-knowing, gentle Gods if they share their Mike and Ike - Bursting with Fruit Juice Flavor® - with us.

There were other memorable moments, like when I had a craving for In-N-Out Burger, Carl's Jr and Jack-In-The-Box - all at the same time, which was fortunate since they are all on the same street corner down from my cousin's house. In between that and my family's incomparable Iraqi food, I got a little sluggish.

Though I've left behind many of the traditions and customs that come with growing up in a church-going family, one that has always stuck with me is the idea of fasting for lent. Across different religions, the act of giving something up (usually food) for a pretermined amount of time is quite hip.

My Dad (Roman Catholic) and Mom (Orthodox) both grew up in Iraq with a strong understanding of the spiritual importance of fasting, which stuck on me too.