Popeyes And The Fried Chicken Joke
In defiance of fast food and its basic ethos, it must first be said that the Popeyes Chicken drive thru is where you will place the order for your meal, but not where you will receive it. You will — as I have many times — most likely find yourself in your car, pulled into a parking spot, waiting for some part of your order to be assembled and rushed out to you. A hallmark of Popeyes is this: both always behind schedule and somehow still right on time.
I learned to fry chicken at an early age. First from my mother, who I imagine also learned at the feet of someone who learned at the feet of someone. And, of course, there is the joke about black people and chicken. How our hands are stained in grease, how we chase after the crunch of a bird fried just right. It is a joke rooted in both history and an absence of it. Both Scottish and West African cultures had early traditions of frying chicken. Though — and this isn’t a joke — the Scottish tradition didn’t involve seasoning the chicken. Rather, it was cooked in fat. West African fried chicken was battered, seasoned, and cooked in oil. When the slave trade brought West Africans to the American South the frying techniques came along with them. Women who worked in the kitchen would add seasonings and spices that were before absent in the chicken. Slaves were forbidden from raising any hogs or more expensive meats on their own, so they were…
