Origin of American fried chicken

Fried chicken is sweeping over mainland China with the popularity of Korean drama “My Love from the Star,” in which the heroine enjoys eating fried chicken with beer. But not many know that fried chicken was originally the “soul food” for many African American slaves who worked in large plantations on the south of the U.S.

Traditionally, southerners in the U.S. roasted chicken in the oven. White plantation owners used only the meaty parts such as a body and legs of chicken for cooking and threw away the other parts that do not have much meat and are difficult to pick clean, such as wings, feet and a neck. Slaves took these leftovers to their houses. Since they didn’t have an oven and couldn’t make roasted chicken as white people did. Even if they had had an oven, it must have taken too much time to cook and the skinny parts must have turned too dry after roasting.

As an alternative, they came up with frying. After being fried in oil, even the cheap parts such as wings turned soft and juicy and the bad smell of chicken disappeared. In addition, high calories of fried chicken became a good source of nutrition for African American slaves who had to handle hard work every day. Back then, white people were accustomed to European style frying, which was more like panfrying using a small amount of oil. But the southern states were rich in pigs’ fat called lard thanks to the development of the pork industry, so deep-frying was an available option.

With the spread of deep frying, fried chicken started to be served at the table of white plantation owners. Colonel Sanders (1890-1980) who was selling fried chicken in Kentucky opened the first franchised store of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. Since then, KFC has opened franchised stores not just in the U. S. but also in over 80 countries around the world. And the “soul food” of African American slaves has become a food enjoyed by people worldwide.

(Source: ‘Discrimination on the Table’ written by Yoshihiro Uehara)