Obesity costs the National Health Service £5billion each year.
The modern epidemic of the developed world, obesity is now as prevalent in the UK as the fast food shops that line our local high streets. KFC, Burger King and Domino's Pizza are just a few of the names that make up a fast food market worth over £4billion annually.
Fried chicken is the fastest growing of all fast foods. With sales booming and more than 2,100 different chicken shops now open in the UK, this increasingly competitive market is rapidly replacing the traditional fish and chips as the go-to choice for hungry people in a hurry. Cheap, quick, filling and easy to eat on the go, its market share is likely to keep growing.
Roosters Spot is an upcoming franchise, providing "The finest quality Halal chicken meals" under the slogan: 'No one does chicken like Roosters Spot'. Their flagship store in Clapham, south-west London was recently the star of a Channel 4, Cutting Edge documentary, The Fried Chicken Shop: Life in a Day. Using a 'mini-rig' of fixed cameras, producer Yonni Usiskin offers viewers an intriguing insight into modern London life through the window of this bustling fried chicken shop.
The hour-long program starts with a few facts and figures:
In Britain, chicken used to be a luxury - we used to eat the equivalent of one a year. Now we slaughter 3.5 million a day and eat more of it than any other meat. How and where we eat chicken has changed and our high streets are changing with it.
Frequented by local regulars during the day and party revellers by night, Roosters Spot is open on average 17 hours a day, seven days a week, 364 days a year. At the weekend, manager Ali and his team of staff can serve up to 1,000 people a night and stay open until 6am. Hungry customers order crispy wings, grilled nuggets of chicken and side orders of chips. There's no time for knives and forks in the land of fried chicken. The experts tear chicken flesh straight off the bone with their teeth, pausing only to suck the spicy sauce of their fingers and perhaps add another glutinous dollop of mayonnaise. Salt shakers are used liberally and cans of Coca Cola and fizzy lemonade re-hydrate thirsty diners.
It is a well-known fact that fast food is bad for you. Relentless campaigning by the government's public health watchdog reminds us of this continually. Newly implemented traffic light food labelling now draws attention to fat, salt, sugar and calorie content in pre-packed food. So, where does fried chicken fall in the artery-clogging spectrum of fast food options?
Kentucky Fried Chicken, the undisputed market leader of the fried chicken industry, has a nutritional calculator on its website. A quick scan of the data reveals that a spicy crispy chicken breast contains 520 calories, 34 grams of fat and nearly 1.5 grams of salt. Red traffic lights all round.
In fact, this nutritional data reflects KFC's attempt to serve healthier food. In an effort to tackle the poor nutritional quality of its fodder, in 2005 the fast food giant stopped salting its chips and reduced its use of trans fats as part of a wider salt-reduction programme. The smaller fried chicken businesses however, are not so amenable. They thrive off the basic fact that salt is addictive and once consumers become accustomed to it, they crave it more and more. Good for business, bad for the body. Salt is one of the primary causes of high blood pressure which cause strokes, heart attacks and heart failure, all of which kill. Professor Graham MacGregor, chairman of CASH (Consensus Action on Salt & Health) says about Britain's booming fried chicken business:
Obviously in an ideal world you would change the consumer choices, but it's almost impossible with salt. For the more deprived people in this country there's no way they have any choice when they buy the cheapest food, there's no way they're going to look at the salt level.
Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived, highly populated and ethnically diverse boroughs in England. A report by the Healthy Borough Programme revealed that for every school in the area, there are 42 fast food outlets. Some children in the borough eat up to 16 takeaways a week. Unsurprisingly, Tower Hamlets' residents suffer from high levels of obesity and shorter life expectancy rates.
So, as Britain plunges deeper into a spiralling obesity crisis, will we manage to break the cycle of unhealthy eating or are we headed for a slow and painful demise?
Proposed solutions range from fewer fast food outlets near schools and a 20% increase in the cost of sugary drinks, to suggestions that those suffering from obesity related diseases pay for their own medical care.
The future looks bleak, with analysis by the government's Foresight Programme predicting that by 2050 over half the UK adult population could be obese. It's clear that drastic mass-action must come from government, healthcare professionals and the food and drink industry. But most importantly, till we as individuals muster the will power to choose carrots over KFC, we haven't got a hope in fried chicken hell.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Creative Commons, Edsel L
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The modern epidemic of the developed world, obesity is now as prevalent in the UK as the fast food shops that line our local high ...
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I have been told, by my nurse to cut down on fatty foods. I thought life was not worth living without chicken or fish takeaways. I now have fish with the batter removed and it is very. tasty. No milk and sugar in coffee and now I can taste the difference between rubbish and the good coffee. For breakfast, boiled egg sandwiches on brown bread, no butter just HP sauce. Very nice. I purchase wheat and gluten free chocolates and they taste fantastic and I can have as many as I like. I can still drink beer limited to 5 pints a week and wine is also allowed. Indian curries are still on the menu. Fresh fruit is allowed, but no more that 2 a day. Plenty of salads and low fat cheese is still permissible. Ham & tomato sandwich in brown bread with no butter is nice with a small glass of fruit juice. Try any one of these foods and you might find something you like.
annoyedsteve: I have been told, by my nurse to cut down
Personally, I love KFC. I have it about three times a year, max. The above article, apart from it's awful, hysterical tone and holier than thou attitude, makes no sense. We are told that Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived areas, then told that people have as many as sixteen take out meals a week.
If you can afford sixteen take out meals a week, you are in no way short of money.
Realisticlyme: Personally, I love KFC. I have it about three times
The 80's called, they want their unhealthy eating myths back. 'Salt linked to heart disease' fat being 'artery clogging'? Anyone who spends 10 minutes googling will quickly realize there are no proven links for any of that. I'm not saying that fried chicken is healthy, but to appear so high and mighty in this article with no understanding of modern nutrition theories is a joke.
Clarks0n: The 80's called, they want their unhealthy eating myths back.
"With sales booming and more than 2,100 different chicken shops now open in the UK, this increasingly competitive market is rapidly replacing the traditional fish and chips as the go-to choice for hungry people in a hurry" - are you completely deranged? Greasy chicken joints surpassed chippies a decade ago!
Neil_McNab: "With sales booming and more than 2,100 different chicken shops
I stopped going to KFC years ago in protest over their discontinuing the hot and spicy buckets. Sometimes I let my wife get me spicy wings when she gets hers, though.
wakyracir: I stopped going to KFC years ago in protest over
it all change when bedroom tax comes in we will all be skinny and can afford chicken most London will struggle to make ends meet as there are no one bedroom flats so we all got pay the so called tax that make us skint whole country chickenless lol
don_priscott: it all change when bedroom tax comes in we will
Yes, but that is their nature! we have so much to eat these days! either way, if u are interested there is and amazing video on youtube called "the best speech you will ever hear', by gary yourofsky!! worth checking out...guy points out so many valid points!
shirleykisiel: Yes, but that is their nature! we have so much
If we didn't eat them they wouldn't be around in the first place. Million chickens a day not being killed wouldn't sustain themselves without interference, we are creating chicken lives even if they get killed before they reach old age.
Clarks0n: If we didn't eat them they wouldn't be around in
how would you feel if the day you were born, someone already planned your death? kept you in a small container and than slaughtered you? what kind of person creates a life an then kills it....a monster with no feelings and compassion! Also, have u ever seen what really goes on behind the meat scene? check it out and if you are not slightly sad or spooked out, then i rest my case:) Also, i just want to say that i am aproaching this topic very calmly and i hope i am not coming across rude, if i am sorry! Messages don't show expression...so i really am not trying to be a dick:)
shirleykisiel: how would you feel if the day you were born,
KFC ?? TRIED SOME ONCE ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO, A FEW OF US EATING IT FOUND
PINK FLESH WITH BLOOD IN IT. NOT COOKED !
SINCE THEN A COUPLE OF THOSE FRIENDS HAVE HAD THE SAME THING HAPPEN.
TAKEN BACK TO STORE--------" IT'S OK, NOT TOO BAD, WE CHANGE IT " EH????
PLUS, A NEIGHBOUR'S SON WORKED AT A KFC OUTLET FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS
AND STATED " IF YOU SAW IN THE BACK---YOU WOULD NEVER EAT IT AGAIN "
xrh796: KFC ?? TRIED SOME ONCE ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO, A
‘’Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived, highly populated and ethnically diverse boroughs in England.’’
Hang on, has English changed recently, I thought ‘’diverse’’ meant ‘’varied’’, ‘’different’’ etc.
Tower Hamlets population is made up of nearly 100% Pakistani and Bangladeshi, how is that diverse?
It used to be diverse when I worked there in the 70's as there were people of all races living there but now it as I described above and is like many other parts of East London.
I suppose this will be now deleted as being racist and not as a fact.
jamesphuket: ‘’Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived, highly populated
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