Same Same, But Different! Part 3: KFC

Many of the larger food chains have set up shop far from their original home offices. Seeing a Swenson's Ice Cream parlor in Thailand is a little surprising for most of us on our first visit, and at first glance look nearly identical to those "back home", but you soon learn they easily fit into the "same same, but different" folder.


For those of you who are scratching your head over that last phrase, you can catch up by reading the introductory post about all things "same same, but different!" here.

Kentucky Fried Chicken has become rather popular in Thailand. It seems like there isn't a mall in any urban area that doesn't sport a storefront with the Colonel's face beaming benignly next to the red-and-white logo, and statues of the man himself stand guard outside of many shops in larger shopping areas. The Thai love the food there almost as much as they seem to love McDonalds, but I'll refrain from going off on them in this post. Suffice it to say they - as well as any number of other chains (including KFC) - have done more in the name of "Westernization" in various countries and cultures than I approve of.

However, its only fair to admit I've been eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in the USA since I was a child. I've seen Colonel Harland Sanders morph in photos and logos from a pasty, overweight Southerner who would probably look more at home at a sidewalk beer bar in Pattaya's Sunee Plaza to a figure actually approaching dapper and healthy-looking today. Come to think of it, that's not a bad example of "same-same, but different" in and of itself, because if he'd lived to eat that artery-clogging stuff for 50 years he'd look VERY different today! Actually, he died of leukemia in December, 1980.

Don't get me wrong... I love the junk. It's like that ersatz cheese glorp they ladle onto nachos at the ball park for "Clothes Pin On Your Aorta Day". I know enough now not to have it more than a few times a year, and even then not a half dozen pieces of it at a sitting. We had it so often when my Aunt came to visit that we started a running joke about it that's lasted years longer than she did, rest her soul. I still have the copy of "Tijuana Picnic" received decades ago as a gag gift from her.

That secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices Sanders wrote on a piece of paper in 1940 turned his first family restaurant ("Sanders Court & Café.") into a global chain, after the first franchise opened in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. The first shop outside of the US was opened in England in 1964, and they now exist in 80 countries, including Thailand, where the first of 250+ franchises opened in 1984. Until I did some research I'd thought they had intentionally used the acronym instead of the full name in Thailand for simplicity's sake, but the company changed it worldwide around 1991.

Besides different entree items and localized side dishes one of the things I wasn't used to seeing was the separate counter where you could buy ice cream cones and sundaes, including a corn sundae - which was an interesting combination of flavors. As an unrelated side note: freshly steamed sweet corn is a fantastic street snack there, by the way.

There's no way for me to verify if they've also stopped using the partially hydrogenated oils for cooking there, but if they have it's just one more reason that it's a better choice than the clown place. At least the portions at KFC aren't promoted with constant suggestions to order enough for three people, if you know what I mean.

And hey - sometimes fried chicken seasoned with those 11 secret herbs and spices really hits the spot when you're a good ten thousand miles from home.