National Fried Chicken Day
National Fried Chicken Day is an annual holiday which is celebrated on July 6th and celebrates the dish that was brought to the United States by Scottish and West African immigrants and has since become one of America’s favorite comfort foods. In the U.S alone, over 8 million chickens are consumed – and it’s a pretty good bet that many of these chickens are breaded and deep-fried.
The History of Fried Chicken
While it’s often debated whether fried chicken came to the United States via Scottish immigrants or via West African immigrants, the truth is that it came out of both traditions. Scottish immigrants have a tradition of frying unseasoned chicken in animal fat. West African slaves had a tradition of frying seasoned chicken – but they didn’t use animal fat. Instead, they used palm oil. It was in the American South that the two traditions would become fused together in what is now known as modern Southern fried chicken. Before the invention of refrigeration, frying chicken was a good way to keep the chicken from going bad. In other words, it really “traveled well.” Which is one of the reasons why Southern fried chicken has remained popular for so many years.
Celebrating National Fried Chicken Day
If you’re totally hooked on fried chicken and want to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day, then you have a couple of options available to you. You can head down to your favorite chicken restaurant and see if they have any fried chicken deals on this day – after all, many do. Or if you’re more of a hands-on person, then you can whip up a batch of your own fried chicken.
Conclusion
National Fried Chicken Day is the perfect day to sit down with your favorite fried chicken dish. And if you just so happen to be on social media, you can also take pictures of your chicken and post it to social media using the hashtag #NationalFriedChickenDay.
