KFC and Christmas

From Christmas in Cambodia

KFC is the Mothership of Fast Food Chains, the Big Mama, the all-encompassing entity. This isn't usually apparent to Americans, but leaps out at those who have taken up residence elsewhere. They are absolutely everywhere - I saw one in the Western Chinese city of Urumqi, for God's sake—and they are also incredibly popular. KFC (or rather, its owner, Yum Brands) has an incredible genius for tweaking its menu into whatever the locals *really* want it to be.

Thailand features green curry and sundaes that are made to look like tropical oceans. (Ew). India has paneer and various masala-preparations on the menu. The USA, has, you know, those X-treme Biscuit Bowl things with enough calories to fee an Indian family.

Cambodia has only had KFC since 2008, and I believe it was the first major fast-food chain to open in the country. Cambodians have quickly caught up to the rest of the world and have throughly embraced KFC. Cambodia's KFC variant mostly features fried chicken with rice and the addition of hot sauce if you so desire, and Khmers just plain love it. The KFC at the Pencil Supermarket on Norodom is packed to the brim at all hours with Khmers, many of them students availing themselves of the free wi-fi and families picking the kids up from school.

KFC adorns itself in Christmas plumage with a vengeance around here, and they're also offering Christmas specials to lure in the festive-feeling Khmer population. I haven't been quite desperate enough to eat at KFC while I've been here, but the allure of popcorn chicken and incredibly yellow corn will probably lure me in at some point. You won't be hearing about it.

You know what's really tragic? They don't sell the biscuits here in Cambodia.