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Notes -
Hamburger is the pinnacle of human food, the zenith of an unguided evolutionary process. The taste which appeals to everyone from children and childish picky eaters to people who have personal chefs all around the globe, the way how it slots into logistics and economics to make it ubiquitous and cheap rivalled only by instant ramen, but with actual protein and with no need for utensils or even for sitting down to consume.
I wonder why chicken tendies have not achieved as much popularity in the fast-food sphere.
They totally have in my region.
Can't go a block without running into a Raising Cane's, Popeyes, or occasionally both.
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McGangbang is an absolute all-timer food
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Tendies are kind of a one-note taste (and the sauce is doing most of the work anyway); the sandwiches, and the flavor profile of beef compared to chicken, are also more complicated. There's less room for condiments as well since most of the sandwiches that contain one large tendie as patty always only consist of lettuce, pickle, maybe a tomato, and mayo/sauce (and again, a lot of fried/breaded chicken is simply a vehicle for the sauce or gravy, which is not true for a hamburger).
Of course, the real move there is to just get the nuggets/strips on the side with your hamburger in place of the fries. Most fast-food places don't really do fries well anyway (they constantly forget to salt them and a lot of the time they just taste kind of bad to begin with, or are cold when you get home compared to tendies which have more thermal mass) so it's kind of a waste to get them these days.
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The price per pound of a broiler chicken compared to beef has been going down for the past 30 years. It's about 30% of the price now, but was 50% of the price back in 1990.
Chicken tenders are a relatively valuable part of the chicken, so I'm guessing that tenders would have been too expensive for fast food.
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Depending on where you're located, there are fast-food chains who offer nothing but these.
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