Chicken in Bizarro World

Most Americans and Japanese can easily agree that fried chicken sounds like a good meal. When I have the opportunity to take my pick from a big greasy bucket of the Colonel’s secret recipe, I go for the breast, of course. That’s the logical choice, right? It’s the biggest section of white meat with the least obstructive bones. The darker, greasier, veinier, sinewier, bonier bits are just the leftover scraps if you ask me.

            

Japan thinks we Americans eat the leftover chicken scraps. To them, white meat is dry and flavorless. They go for the dark stuff. If you order a pricier high quality chicken sandwich over here, you’ll get an extra veiny patty of pressed together dark meat scraps and gristle. At McDonald’s in the States, the Chicken Selects get their name because they’re supposedly “select” portions of nice white meat chicken. McDonald's Japan "selects" the darkest gristleiest scraps. Most Japanese bars have fried chicken gristle or cartilage on the menu. People order that. On purpose. At the grocery store, nice big cuts of white meat are discounted. Nobody wants to buy them.