# Chick Fil A chicken isn't anything special **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 30, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805 "2012-07-30T01:26:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/41 "2012-07-30T05:49:41Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > The OP seems to be conflating personal tastes in food with **homophobia**. They have nothing to do with one another. Get it **straight**. Was that intentional? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/42 "2012-07-30T10:38:21Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > This way of operating just blows my mind. If you’re a devout Christian or a far left atheist liberal I don’t know why any of this bullshit about gay rights, political donations, or etc should impact one iota how you invest your money. Investments aren’t moral decisions, but financial ones… They are totally separate issues. So you say your stock broker is only following your purchase orders? ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/43 "2012-07-30T10:49:26Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Yeah, but what if you steal Chick Fil A sandwiches to feed your family? Then aren’t you taking profit from those evil homophobes AND feeding your starving family at the same time? Seems like a double good to me. And you get bonus points if you’re feeding your starving _gay_ family. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/44 "2012-07-30T10:56:43Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Not only is their chicken pretty darn tasty, I’ve never had a bad experience at a Chick-fil-A restaurant. I can’t recall at any time having my order messed up, coming into contact with a surly employee or questioning the cleanliness of one of their restaurants. (snip [And never short weight either](http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20120719/ARTICLES/120719591/1177?Title=Three-arrested-after-heroin-sale-at-fast-food-restaurant). ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/45 "2012-07-30T11:33:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Yeah, I thought they were okay too. But the lemon meringue pie was what really got me. Mind you, this was back in West Texas, and there was a lot of crappy food floating around. I’d probably think differently about it if I tried one now. You were in West Texas and there wasn’t a Whataburger around? I’d take Whataburger any day of the week over Chik-Fil-A. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/46 "2012-07-30T12:03:48Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > …pickles…, which don’t go with chicken at all. That is by far the strangest claim I’ve read on the SDMB, ever. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/47 "2012-07-30T12:06:57Z")
I’m from the South, and still live here. I’m conservative. I like Chick Fil A food. But I’ve decided to forgo those tasty treats and join the boycott because the owners have chosen to identify their product with a political agenda I find unpalatable. If they’d kept their politics to themselves, I’d still be buying their products. Since they’ve turned lunch options into a political stance, I’ll vote with my wallet. At other restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/48 "2012-07-30T12:12:31Z")
I wish their chicken did suck, because then I wouldn’t miss it. C-F-A was the only fast food place I still bought from with any regularity, meaning once a month or so. It was already mildly annoying when my cravings would invariably hit on Sunday, but this flap sealed it. If they insist on joining the culture wars, I’ll learn to live without deep fried chicken sandwiches and stepped-on french fries. Sarah and Todd Palin can just double up. (Literally, if they eat there enough…) ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/49 "2012-07-30T12:12:41Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I’m not a consequentialist, I believe in individual acts being inherently moral or immoral. Lying is inherently immoral. Stealing is inherently immoral. Buying something isn’t inherently immoral. If the person I buy it from uses the money to do something immoral, that isn’t part of the moral decision to buy the product–I’m not responsible for the consequences of his actions. > > This is a more permissive ideology in that you don’t have to worry about what someone does with money you give them in exchange for a good or service. But it is less permissive in that you can’t justify actions based on their consequences, either. So even a lie to save a life is still an immoral act, and stealing to feed your family is still immoral. If there are two volleyball making factories, the end products of which are identical, and which price their volleyballs identically, but one kills children in order to make its foam core\*, and the other just makes it the usual way, then there are two kinds of volleyballs on the market: murderballs, and normalballs. In such a case, someone can refrain from buying the murderballs without thinking “it would be morally wrong of me to support such an organizaiton”–and instead, thinking “I don’t want a murderball.” In such a case, demand for murderballs goes down. Similarly, with chick fil a, if there were another restaurant serving identical chicken identically priced, there would now be homophobiachicken on the market competing with gayfriendlychicken. I like gayfriendlychicken better than homophobiachicken. So I’ll purchase the latter. If most other people were to do the same (fat chance…) then demand for homophobiachicken would go down. My point here is tha the thought behind a boycott doesn’t have to be the consequentialist ethical thought “I don’t want to give them money they might use for X”, but instead, can (I actually think _should_) be “I prefer normalballs to murderballs.” and “I prefer gayfriendlychicken to homophobiachicken.” ETA: Another boycott motivation that makes sense and isn’t moralistic in the particular way you don’t like is, “I hereby disincentivize them from doing this thing I don’t like.” ETA: I do think purely personal boycotts don’t make much sense if disincentivization is the motivation. If I don’t go to chick fil a today, that doesn’t mean they lose money–it means someone who would have passed because the line was too long will now buy food from them. ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/50 "2012-07-30T12:21:04Z")
Yes, it is. Especially their spicy chicken sandwich. It’s so, so, so good. ETA: Even though this means nothing, there’s a KFC right next to the Chik-Fil-A here, and the CFA gets tons more business than does the KFC. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/51 "2012-07-30T12:22:19Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I suppose the chicken might feel somewhat disappointed. The chicken not so much, but the cows will be inconsolable. > [@boytyperanma](#): > > That said I loved the sign at a KFC I drove by. ‘Delicious chicken without the hate’ It was almost enough to get me to stop in. Then I thought fried chicken isn’t delicious regardless of who serves it. Well, it is if you’re not using KFC as your measure of deliciousness. Years ago, when they weren’t afraid to be _Kentucky Fried Chicken_, they had delicious down pat, but then something changed. Standards and quality control has slipped big time and the few times I’ve been back, I’ve been served nothing but old chicken (past its hold time), cold chicken, or overcooked chicken – greasy as all get out on the outside, drier than a desert inside. I’m almost sure they also changed their coleslaw recipe because it’s not as good either and the mac and cheese just left me in tears, overcooked pasta and very bland. The cleanliness of the KFC stores around here leaves a LOT to be desired. Bojangles is a superior alternative if you’re craving fast food fried chicken in a bucket with sides. But if you want quality boneless fried chicken breast sandwich, Chick-fil-A can’t be beat. As fast food goes, the quality is top-notch. I have never had a bad meal at CfA. The waffle fries are consistently fresh, hot and not overly salted. The salads are never wilted. The chicken salad on whole-grain wheat is very, very tasty and healthier. Also, their service is consistently friendly and professional and I can’t say that about any other fast food establishment I’ve frequented. I’ve always wondered why it stood apart service-wise; I guess they just pick their management better. You want expensive, try McAllister’s or Panera. I’d say Panera is probably the best of the best for fast cafe-style food and my meals there, and at McAllister’s, are well over $10, while at CfA I can get just as much food for $7 or $8, though perhaps not quite as healthy. Plus, CfA has Diet Dr. Pepper and I am a total sucker for that. Some people are willing to pay a little more to get better quality food. In my book, it’s worth it. In that respect, I don’t see CfA overpriced at all. On the contrary, I do wonder just what kind of quality meat and bread I’m getting for a dollar. It certainly doesn’t taste all that great. Also, I am not southern. I do not live in a trailer park. I’m an atheist. I vote liberal consistently. I openly support, and would vote for when given the opportunity, homosexuals having every right and privilege as do heterosexuals and not calling it something different. I am disgusted by the views of the jerk who runs Chick-fil-A, but as long as his company provides jobs in my local area to produce a product that appeals to me and maintains high standards for customer service, I will continue to choose CfA over other inferior fast food establishments. TLDR: You’re wrong. But it’s a free country. Boycott what you want and I’ll keep choosing my fast food restaurants by the quality of their product and services and you can feel free to disagree with my tastes. But if you’d like to buy me lunch, we can go to Panera instead if that makes you feel better. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I hadn’t thought of Chick-fil-A for years before this controversy broke, and I never knew the chain was linked to fundies. But I recall they had a tasty lemon meringue pie. Yes! And…if you have never tried their seasonal banana shake, you’re really missing something. Tasty, cold and creamy with chunks of banana and nilla wafers. I can’t eat them often because they are way too sweet and too many calories (I don’t even want to know), but damn, they are good! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/52 "2012-07-30T12:47:12Z")
Hmmmm chicken… ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/53 "2012-07-30T13:00:10Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > It has pickles on it, which don’t go with chicken at all. Like hell they don’t. Real fried chicken and good homemade pickles are the picnic of my dreams. I like Chick-Fil-A. Especially their Chicken Minis at breakfast time. Fortunately I don’t live within 100 miles of one, so boycotting them isn’t that hard. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/54 "2012-07-30T13:21:24Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I’ve thought that since the Star Wars era. My theory is that they cost more because they don’t use the absolute cheapest crap they can get, including the all important chicken meat. Which would also explain why for fast food chicken it seems better than most. I’ve been thinking these places should branch into fried pigeon. Lower costs and it would help take care of a pressing urban problem. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/55 "2012-07-30T13:28:51Z")
I’m from the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago, but not from the south. And I don’t live there anymore anyway. Now I’m from the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. And I’ve never tried Chil Fil A food. But I’ve also decided not to even freakin try it because of the same reason - they’ve chosen to identify their product with a political agenda I too find unpalatable. **Oakminster** is 100% correct - if they’d kept their damn mouths shut, this wouldn’t have been an issue. You wanna play, you gotta pay - and they wanted to play in this political morass, so they’re gonna pay. Sorry - I’ll go to McDonald’s. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/56 "2012-07-30T14:23:12Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Like hell they don’t. Real fried chicken and good homemade pickles are the picnic of my dreams. Yep. And it’s a fairly common concept of fried food + pickle–like all of Eastern and Central Europe at least seem to be into the combination. Anytime mom served fried chicken, pork chops, breaded liver, whatever, a jar of some kind of pickle (not necessarily cukes) would come to the table. I mean, look at [this menu](http://www.csirkefogo.hu/angol.htm) of a fried chicken sandwich place in Budapest called Csirke Fogó. The plain sandwich is pickle (the “cucumber” is an incorrect translation–looks like it was run through Google Translate) and a deep fried chicken breast. Now that was a darned good chicken sandwich–none of the slightly mushy texture of a Chick-Fil-A, and with a full sour pickle that’s fermented rather than pickled with vinegar. Pretty large portion, too. That said, I do like Chick-Fil-A’s chicken sandwich. It’s easily the best fast food chicken sandwich I’ve encountered in the States. However, I only get one thing from them, and that’s the plain chicken & pickle sandwich. I’ve never tried the fancy stuff, and I’m not particularly interested in it when their flagship sandwich is so good. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/57 "2012-07-30T14:29:28Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > You wanna play, you gotta pay - and they wanted to play in this political morass, so they’re gonna pay. Sorry - I’ll go to McDonald’s. Who at least have the sense to keep a low profile while they’re raping the planet and turning the entire world obese… ---
**Author:** ![T-Rex\_Arms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@T-Rex\_Arms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T-Rex_Arms)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/58 "2012-07-30T15:20:39Z")
The chicken tastes good. I don’t usually see anyone claiming anything more than “it tastes better than other fast food,” which it does, to some people. I happen to like that it pulls apart like ‘real’ chicken and doesn’t taste like or have the texture of the inside of a chicken nugget. It was always my favorite fast food up until I stopped eating there last year (due to disagreement with their charity donations and employment practices, like many people.) So, I “sing the praises” of their food while also no longer patronizing their restaurants. If _you_ don’t like the food, that’s fine, because it’s JUST FOOD - every kind of food has fans and detractors (even bacon.) Making some ridiculous generalization about how people only like it and keep eating it because of nostalgia or whatever is… well, ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/59 "2012-07-30T15:27:24Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Who at least have the sense to keep a low profile while they’re raping the planet and turning the entire world obese… I’ll try my best. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805/60 "2012-07-30T16:04:17Z")
_shrug_ I like the chicken sandwiches, especially the spicy chicken sandwich. I like the waffle fries as well. The chicken strips are also quite tasty. It’s not something I get every day (kind of a far trek for me from work to the nearest one), but I’ll go a couple of times a month usually. I don’t care a fig about their political stance. As with actors and the like, their sole purpose in my life is…are they entertaining, do I get enjoyment out of their product? What their political or other views are is militantly dis-interesting to me. My dad gets all worked up over ‘liberal’ actors and the like, and won’t go see movies of people who are politically active in things he doesn’t believe in. I put this in the same category. Me, I don’t care…they aren’t people to me, just folks who I either enjoy seeing in a movie or not. Chick-Fil-A is just a place where I go to eat sometimes, and their sole purpose in my life is to provide me with a chicken sandwich I enjoy eating occasionally. If you don’t like the chicken, well, different strokes and all that. To say that it ‘isn’t anything special’ and that the food sucks is to make an individual value judgement, since quite obviously a large number of folks disagree. If that wasn’t the case, then Chick-Fil-A wouldn’t be so popular (the one I go to always has a long line both in the drive-thru and at the check out counter). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-fil-a-chicken-isnt-anything-special/629805.md?page=4)