Plant-Based Chicken

Here’s a quick report on KFC’s new plant-based chicken product, “Beyond Fried Chicken,” available at nearly 4,000 U.S. locations.

As I’ve mentioned frequently, meatless meat has gone mainstream. That’s because the plant-based burgers from Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are virtually indistinguishable from beef, and represent an enormous step forward from the veggie burgers of the past.

My experience was positive.  The product, which I’ll call a “nugget,” rather than a “tender,” has a flavor that is very close to actual chicken.  The texture isn’t perfect, however; it’s denser and chewier.  It doesn’t readily pull apart, though what I was served seemed a tad overcooked.  Also, I didn’t get the dipping sauce in my take-out order that I requested; that would have improved the moment.

I haven’t tried Beyond Meat’s plant-based chicken tender, but from what I can discern, most people prefer the KFC product.

In terms of human health, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that plant-based chicken offers little if any advantage.  Beyond Fried Chicken is breaded and deep-fried, just like its animal-based counterpart.

The real advantage, of course, accrues to the reduction in cruelty, and to the environment that no longer has to concern itself with containing, feeding, removing feces, and slaughtering the chickens, then packaging the parts, and disposing of the waste.

If human civilization can migrate to a plant-based diet, we will proceed a long way to helping us achieve our goals of climate change mitigation and stemming the loss of biodiversity and ocean acidification.