Opinion: Vegetarian KFC? Hard Pass Please!

Fast food restaurants have been changing things up in the last couple of years by attempting to add more vegetarian items to the menu to cater to vegans around the world (we’re looking at you McVegan). However, it has come our attention that KFC is soon to be testing vegetarian fried chicken (an oxymoron if I ever saw one) in the UK soon.

Yep, you read that correctly, vegetarian fried chicken. It will make use of KFC’s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices but it will also be meat-free. In a statement, KFC told Foodbeast that “development of the recipe is still in its very early stages, and so the options we’re exploring in our kitchen are still top secret.”

While vegans are probably out there salivating, let me let you in on a little secret. Vegetarian KFC exists in India, and it is possibly one of the worst things I have ever tasted. Some of the items on the menu include a Paneer (cottage cheese) Zinger Burger, which does utilize the same blend of herbs and spices and still manages to taste like shit, and veggie strips, which are supposed to be KFC’s vegetarian answer to the boneless chicken strips, but instead leaves you feeling like you just ate the most horribly seasoned, vegetarian croquette you’ve ever eaten.

It might seem like I’m being unnecessarily harsh about vegetarian food, however, I can assure you that’s not the case. I enjoy eating a vegetarian samosa, or demolishing a vada pav just as much as the next person. My problem lies in the vegetarianization (copyright pending) of other food.

Everyone knows it doesn’t taste the same. Vegetarian fried chicken? Why not just create a delicious new vegetarian item on the menu instead of selling it as vegetarian variation of an already established dish? In doing so, vegetarian customers get the short end of the stick, while KFC (or insert any other generic fast food name) enjoy their patronage without giving them a quality product and that’s why I’ll give vegetarian KFC a hard pass!