KFC (and I don't mean Kaiserslautern!)

Boy do I wish I had a picture for you today. I guess you'll just have to believe me on this.... We found a Kentucky Fried Chicken! It's in Saarbruecken, about 30 minutes west of here near the French border. We spotted it from the Autobahn and decided to zero in for a closer look. Sure enough, it was a genuine KFC, so we stopped for lunch. It's no exaggeration when I say walking in there was like walking into the U.S. again. It was a carbon copy of an American KFC, except, of course, for the semi-German language menu. There was a mixture of English (for example, "Chicken Wrap" and "cole slaw") and German (once we figured out that "Kartoffelpuree" is mashed potatoes we had no problem ordering everything our greasy little chicken hearts desired.)

Having spent a little time in the local German McDonald's, we've come to expect that the seating will be limited and the menu will incorporate non-McDonald-like food items (Jalapeno Poppers? Really?) The KFC, however, takes the Beaver Award for staying true to the original. The food was good, the chicken crispy and the service was friendly. For what more could one ask?

I have to add one more thing about our KFC side-trip, though. You might want to sit down for this one. They used real silverware and glass dishes. Yep, it's true. They may get our award for staying true to the original, but they can't circumvent Germany's commitment to the environment. There was very little to throw away other than our drink cups and a couple of paper wrappers. Everything else went in the stack for the dishwasher. Amazing, huh? We wondered as we walked out of the restaurant if the United States could ever change its ways so drastically as to trust customers with real silverware and glass dishes at fast food restaurants. Just think, McDonald's alone has 30,000 restaurants worldwide; the amount of trash they could prevent from going to the landfills would be enormous if they did away with the paper packaging and offered everything on a plate. It would be a big change, but wouldn't it be worth it?

Enjoy your day and think of us the next time you see that big red and white bucket in the sky!