KFC's Cheesy Bacon Bowl

Figure 2

“Would you like fries with that?” is usually the question that comes to mind when getting an addition to your order at a fast food venue.  KFC’s introduction of their Cheesy Bacon Bowl, however, might be changing that tune.  KFC attempts to sweep fast food lovers off their feet with their new product.  Keep in mind their fans have gotten a little chunkier after eating their concoction of mashed potatoes, gravy, fried chicken, sweet corn, a four-cheese blend, and bacon, so it might be a little difficult.  So what makes KFC’s famous bowls so famous? “We put bacon on it” (CBS News).  After all, everything is better with bacon…right?

          Let’s face it, some meals are better when certain ingredients are added to the mix: sugar, butter, and garlic, to name a few.  All of these ingredients, however, were not once living animals.  There are even dog treats with artificial bacon flavor; since when would a dog eat a pig?  Don’t get me wrong; I like bacon an appropriate amount, which is every once in awhile next to my eggs.  Being an average American omnivore I don’t have a particular problem with eating animals, but something about crumbling what was once a pig onto to everything, including other meat, seems shameful.  

               Jonathon Foer, author of Eating Animals, describes shame as “what we feel when we almost entirely—yet not entirely—forget social expectations and our obligations to others in favor of our immediate gratification” (37).  The pork, beef, and poultry industry have given Americans immediate access to large amounts of meat at an affordable price to consumers (Dollar menus, anyone?) but at a terrible cost.  The price of a Cheesy Bacon Bowl means different things to different people.  At the register, it’s $3.99 plus tax.  If you’ve read the book Eating Animals or just like barnyard animals in general, the cost is animal suffering.  If you’re a vegan, the cost is the thousands of animals slaughtered per day.  If you’re a fast food giant, it’s a whole lot of money in your pocket.  However, the shame of purchasing a product for the sake of immediate gratification applies to every American.  Our country is consumed with instant gratification; at what point will oour greed consume us?

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Figure 2 is a representation of the Nutrition Facts of one KFC’s Famous Bowlã-Mashed Potato with Gravy as listed on the KFC website (minus the “1 bowl of shame”) and does not include the additional calories or nutritional value of the sweet corn and bacon in the Cheesy Bacon Bowl. Because it is only offered for a limited time, by law KFC is not required to list the Nutrition Facts of the Cheesy Bacon Bowl.  As consumers we are only left to guesstimate what the Nutrition Facts actually are.  Comforting.