Ah yes, the Double Down, the “sandwich” with no bread.
The KFC Web site describes the Double Down as “two juicy, boneless chicken filets, two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of cheese and the colonel’s sauce.”
People that have seen this new item at KFC can’t help but talk. Some find it reprehensible, while others find it funny. I am in the latter camp.
I have always felt that such a fast food item would be inevitable, but it still seems crazy, though, that such an item actually exists.
It looks like a prop you would see on “Saturday Night Live,” or a similar comedy show, making fun of the excess of the fast food industry.
It is obvious that KFC knows how unreal the item is. It is also obvious that they want people talking about this unreal quality the Double Down has. Every advertisement shows the “sandwich” dripping with sauce, cheese and bacon, making the “sandwich” look more unreal than it is.
Their site exclaims, “The new KFC Double Down sandwich is real!” Their television advertisement brags, “So much chicken we didn’t have room for a bun.”
It seems they wanted to hype this sandwich as something crazy, something big, maybe even something gross, just as long as people are talking. Maybe that was KFC’s goal.
I asked a cashier how popular the “sandwich” was, and she told me “very popular, we sell like over 100 a day.”
You may be wondering why I’m using the word sandwich in quotes. To be honest, I’m actually a big fan of sandwiches. They are one of my favorite foods. But the Double Down is not a sandwich.
A sandwich must have bread or something similar. It is no longer a sandwich if it does not have some type of starchy thing, such as bread or a bun, to give the more meaty ingredients balance.
The Double Down by itself costs about $4.50. That is way too expensive for what it is. It does not have so much chicken that there is “no room for a bun.” The two pieces of chicken are the same size as all the chicken filets I have had. If anything, they were a bit smaller. There was room for a bun. The cheese and sauce was not dripping appetizingly down the sides of it.
By the time I was halfway done with it, there was much too little cheese and sauce.
Upon first looking at the Double Down, I was surprised at how ordinary it looked. Based on the advertisements, I was expecting something gigantic, something hard to hold. It really just looked like a bunch of ingredients thrown together in a box.
Upon first bite, that is also what it tasted like, just a bunch of ingredients thrown together. It tasted like two pieces of chicken with some sauce and bacon. It tasted OK, but these different foods did not mix particularly well.
About halfway through the Double Down, I was once again surprised that despite my first bad impression, I was actually enjoying eating the thing. The bacon was starting to taste good with the chicken and the sauce.
The mix of ingredients was actually starting to work, maybe. I began to think this might not be that bad. I could see buying this again.
But that feeling was short lived, because it hit me like a ton of bricks; I began to ask myself: “What am I eating?”
My hands were greasy, the amount of salt was beginning to get to me, and it was then I realized that the thing in my hand, the thing I was actually eating, was actually disgusting.
I sat there just thinking about it, and it’s crazy that I finished it.
But finished it I did. It was a struggle. By the time it was three-fourths finished, I really, really did not want to finish the rest but I did. About 20 minutes later my stomach was not feeling great. I could feel myself getting a little sick.
So next time you’re on the go, and you need to pick up something to eat quickly, make the right decision, pick up something healthy like a juice with a salad.
I understand being curious about products like the Double Down. I was curious too. Consider it a favor; I found out what the truth is. It is not as good as it looks in the ad, and the novelty of the item wears off quickly.
Get something that won’t make you feel bad after you have finished it. You’ll be glad you did.