It is now official the Double Down from KFC has made it way above the 49th parallel, as of October 17th. KFC has upped the anti with this apocalyptic sandwich. For anyone who doesn’t know what the Double Down is then please allow me to describe what comes with this insane sandwich, it you can even call it a sandwich in a traditional sense. You get two, count them two breaded and fried chicken breasts with two pieces of bacon, Monterey jack cheese, pepper jack cheese, and the Colonels sauce. Where’s the bun? Answer, the chicken fillets have replaced the classic bread component. A new era of sandwich has been born.
On the KFC website, http://www.kfc.com/doubledown/, they say that this sandwich has only 540 calories, 32 grams of fat, and 1380 mg of sodium if you get it the original way, if grilled the calorie, fat, and sodium intake fluctuate somewhat. If this is true, it is comparable to the Big Mac at McDonalds, and less in all categories than the Whopper from Burger King.
Nutritionists, food bloggers, food activists alike have gone on the offensive saying it is a heart attack “sandwich,” that it should be boycotted. But really how bad is it? If anything, I’d have to say that KFC is late to the artery clogging game by the big business fast food companies. All you have to do is take a look at the menus from the rivals to know that worse sandwiches are out there and have been from some time. For example, the Angus burger with cheese and bacon from McDonalds is almost 250 more calories than the Double Down, the Triple Whopper from Burger King is 1250 calories, and I’m convinced that anything from Taco Bell will shorten your life dramatically.
The only positive to draw on is that the Double Down is only here in Canada for a limited time, even the executives at KFC know that it isn’t going to profitable enough to keep it on the menu, so not to worry by 2011 it’ll be gone and we can forget it ever made it onto the market.
Here is a link to a review by Mark Schatzker, author of Steak: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef and contributor to The Globe And Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/the-double-down-reviewed-salty-salty-salty/article1764187/