Within the past 24 hours I've eaten at both KFC (also known as The Artist Formerly Known As Kentucky Fried Chicken) and Taco Bell. When I was a kid one of the memorable things about Colonel Sanders' operation was the spork. I don't recall ever getting a spork at any other fast food joint, but they were the standard eating utensil at Kentucky Fried. But last night not a single spork was to be found at the KFC. Meanwhile the Taco Bell now issues black sporks for eating pinto beans and taco salads and such.I'm sure the changes at both restaurants can be easily explained away by market factors. Maybe fewer people eat fried chicken with forks, making the tines of the spork unnecessary. Maybe Taco Bell got a good deal on the sporks. I dunno. But seeing no white sporks at their usual haunt and then the next day seing black sporks in an unexpected place leaves me with the distinct impression that the sporks all went over to the Dark Side.
If I could draw or photoshop worth a darn, this post would end with a picture of Darth Vader holding a glowing red spork.
EDIT: Thanks, stuart!
Remember that KFC and Taco Bell are both owned by Pepsi, so even though KFC may no longer have the spork, at least the tradition is still kept in "the family."
ReplyDeleteAnecdotal and Unreliable Observations: the black Taco Bell sporks are newish (sometime in the last couple of years, I think), but the fade of the white sporks from KFC is a bit older, I believe. I remember bemoaning to Sandra the lack of sporks at a KFC in Austin several years back (of course, it could be regional ... for all I know there are parts of the country where they _still_ have sporks at KFC).
ReplyDeleteI was always fascinated by them as a kid, too. One of my first full-length RPG project had "vibrosporks" as weapons ...
Sporks Rock, and not just in fast food joints. They make keeping your camping utensil kits a little bit less crowded.
ReplyDeleteAll I gotta say is that I bought my Titanium Spork from Eastern Mountain Sports back in the summer of 2000, way before ThinkGeek got their nerdy little paws on 'em. Those suckers are light as a feather and all but indestructable.
Hmm. When the KFC that was across the street from my record store in San Franisco closed last year, it was replaced with a fancy restaurant... called Spork! They do a sorta gourmet take on classic American diner food...
ReplyDeleteHmm, so what kind of utensils does a combo KFC/Taco Bell have (I call these locations Kentucky Fried Tacos)?
ReplyDeleteWhat about Pizza Hut, what do they have (I've even seen combined KF/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut restaurants, which I call Kentucky Fried Taco Pizzas).
Frank
Enlightenment is yours:
ReplyDeleteThe sporks/non-sporks are a choice of the franchisee, not Yum! Brands, the owner of the brand. It just depends on what they choose to buy from Yum! There are plenty of spork-having KFCs around, as well as fork and spoon Taco Bells.