Chicken Friendly KFC

I haven’t been a vegetarian for long, but I have always been a firm believer in the fight against animal cruelty. I became a vegetarian because, like so many others, I love animals and don’t see the need to eat them. I also have a passion for the environment and meat production creates a lot of pollution thanks to factory farms and processing plants.

Recently KFC Canada made the an agreement with PETA, changing the way they slaughter their chickens and adding a vegan “chicken” options to the menu. These changes came after the company, owned by Priszm Income Fund based in Vaughan, Ont., suffered losses when dubbed “Kentucky Fried Cruelty” during a national boycott involving stars such as Pamela Anderson and Paul McCartney. In the past the fast food-chain used suppliers which slaughtered chickens in cruel methods such as stomping , kicking , and violently slamming them against floors and walls. The raising of chickens by the suppliers were not much better with cramped cages stuffed wit dozens of chickens unable to move or spread their wings. Chickens were also being fed steroids which caused unnatural growth which often crippled the birds.

The US chain of KFC have not made such agreements and still face boycotts across the country.

As I mentioned before Canadian KFCs will now be offering a vegan option, which I hope will be fried in separate broilers. In the past I have seen restaurants cook and store veggie burgers with regular beef burgers. I asked why they’d do it that way, the response I got was that Health and Safety says they can. What? Being a vegetarian and ordering vegetarian food has nothing to do with health and safety regulations. Either way I’m interested to see how the vegan “chicken” tastes. I personally would love to see A&W come up with a veggie/vegan “chicken“, cause their actually chicken is soooo much better* Lol.

Although I haven’t been a vegetarian long, I am very disappointed in how North american inspired restaurants and food companies make meat free meals. I find they tend to lack flavour. I think it’s because they think vegetable and often treat them as a side dish and don’t make them the same way they would meat. I believe this is the mistake. Part of the reason meat tastes so good is because of the herbs, spices, sauces and other ingredients used to prepare them for a meal. When I make my meals I cook the veggie “meat” exactly how I would regular meat, minus anything that contains any animal by-products. There are even spices that taste much like chicken broth that are made out of vegetables, such as Vegeta.

So my advice to and chef who might be reading this, treat it like meat but don’t mix it up with meat.

*Opinion based on when I ate there while not a vegetarian.

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