Earlier this year the chef, writer and podcaster Soleil Ho replaced veteran restaurant critic Michael Bauer at the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ho’s short essay this week addressing the Popeyes chicken sandwich social media phenomenon is required reading for food lovers. Moreover, she concludes with a indie eatery listing as a principled alternative to the same old fast food purveyors in the Bay Area.
“Alternately, you can sit this (circus) out and eat fried chicken sandwiches at any of these local establishments.”
What are the indie choices for a fried chicken sandwich here in metro Louisville? A few examples, displayed clockwise from top right in the photo: Biscuit Belly, The Eagle, Doc Crow’s and Flanagan’s Ale House, but of course there are others deserving of mention. What’s your favorite?
Ho’s essay is here: The nihilism of the Popeyes chicken sandwich and its surrounding hoopla.
The (Popeyes) sandwich was delicious for what it was: a cheap product where the true cost is carried by marginalized people and animals besides the consumer. It seems that, as a culture, many of us who can afford to choose from many options of what to eat vacillate between caring a lot about the welfare of our meat animals and restaurant workers and being willing to put up with anything for the sake of momentary pleasure. Yes, life is hard and sometimes you just want to roll your eyes back and eat something good. At the very least, it’s nice to know what everyone else is talking about.
Snappy Twitter repartee, eye-catching bag designs, whatever political symbolism is inscribed in the object itself — they all function as distractions from the real-world consequences of the choices we make. It is possible to hold all of these truths together and sit with whatever inconvenient implications they lead us toward.
