Everybody knows about the now-reversed “Curse of the Bambino” put on the Boston Red Sox in 1918 when they sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Well, sports fans in Japan have an urban legend of their own fueled by a national passion for baseball and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The “Curse of the Colonel” began in 1985 when a store-front statue of Colonel Sanders was thrown into the D?tonbori River by a celebratory mob of Hanshin Tigers fans (after the team won its first and only championship in the Japan Series). But the Colonel didn’t get the joke, and Tigers fans have been sentenced to watch their team lose the series three times since that fateful night. Desperate for some good juju, Tigers fans dragged the statue’s upper torso out of the river, giving it reconstructive surgery and returning it to the nearest KFC in 2009.
Perhaps hungry for a win, KFC Japan’s menu has gone on to defy any curse against its home turf by creating a whole new form of fast food unlike anything the Colonel might have dared to imagine. So far, KFC Japan has scored a home run.
Kentucky for Christmas
Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan, but eating KFC as a Christmas meal has become a widely practiced tradition thanks to an ad campaign that started in 1974. The holiday meal that people have been known to stand in line for hours to order includes a festive bucket of fried chicken, a side, cake and even champagne. Look no further for the perfect holiday dinner soundtrack than any one of the Colonel’s three curated Christmas albums from the late 1960s. It’s the gift that keeps on giving back to the dollar crates in vinyl record stores.
Kentucky Fried Rice Bowls
It’s a slightly different offering than America’s KFC Famous Bowl, the contents of which are essentially what you get when you wipe down the service line at the end of the night. Flavors include Japanese Teriyaki and Spanish Salpicao as well as the more traditional Kentadon bowl, which combines crispy pieces of chicken with deep fried shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes and spicy green peppers. Served on a bed of rice and drizzled with a piquant sweet sauce, it’s like a bucket of KFC and a bowl of tempura were last call lovers in a bar after the Tigers got sacked.
Terrine and Ballotine
Made exclusively for the Colonel’s Dish line of menu items, KFC Japan has offered its discerning diners a fancy feast of terrine – like a cold, meat loaf-fruit cake hybrid in chicken and beef variations – and the roasted ballotine prepared with apricots, plums, cranberries, oranges and chestnuts stewed in white wine, rolled up with chicken, tied with twine, roasted and topped with more fruit. Unfortunately, the terrine has been discontinued, but the ballotine survives at select KFC locations.
Biscuits That Look Like Doughnuts
Nobody seems to know whose idea it was to punch a hole in the biscuits, but at Halloween they’re available in pumpkin flavor. You can even get one topped with soft serve ice cream and maple syrup at KFC Japan’s only all-you-can-eat buffet in Osaka. The flavor of this staple side reportedly tastes blander than the American version. Although, when topped with ice cream and maple syrup, the taste of what’s underneath probably doesn’t matter much anymore.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
