Fried Chicken Phenomenon vs. Duck Dilemma: What Makes One Common and the Other Rare?

From Korean-style to Taiwanese, American to Chinese variations, fried chicken dominates the realm of deep-fried delicacies. Walk into any corner fried chicken spot, and it’s an absolute truth — if it’s deep-fried, it’s undoubtedly chicken.

But why does fried chicken rule the frying game while fried duck remains an enigmatic rarity?

Rewind a hundred million years, and the tale of chickens and ducks begins diverging dramatically.

Unlike their terrestrial chicken cousins, ducks are the aquatic adventurers of the avian world. Their watery habitats, beyond being cold, serve as ideal breeding grounds for pathogens. To ward off excessive inflammation, ducks took genetic matters into their own wings. They upped their apolipoprotein gene count, mastering the art of oil secretion and fortifying their immune defenses.

Nature’s handiwork led to ducks having twice the fat content of chickens, making their…