Food drink 2019 was the year of the chicken sandwich

To commemorate reaching completion of this year, we asked our reporters to reflect on 2019 and choose something they believed stood out from the remainder of the cultural mayhem and cursed images. You can find the total selection of our choices here

The earth is 4,500,000,000 years of ages, give or take a few million. For 4,499,999,999 of those years were missing the one key aspect to make them beneficial: the Popeyes chicken sandwich.

It hit us like a flavor wave during an otherwise ordinary week in the middle of August. On Aug. 12, Popeyes released its first-ever fried chicken sandwich upon the world to a glowing reaction But things didn’t get real intriguing until a week later on, when a certain popular junk food chain took a subtle jab at the new sammy.

Some people simply can’t handle modification. Or should I state, development? Popeyes then countered with a saucy reaction of their own.

Narrator: They were not “great.”

The food chains were pushed harder than a piece of fried chicken in between 2 buttery buns. The Great Chicken Sandwich War of 2019 was only simply beginning to heat up.

Right After, other fast food chains entered the ring, equipped with chicken sandwiches of their own.

The masses quickly booted Shake Shack from the battle Hamburger King primarily stuck to their burgers, however conjectured anyway, to no avail. Boston Market was high off their asses for getting involved in the first location. And Wendy’s went down in an intense blaze when Popeyes favorably incinerated them on social media, and then torched them again for good measure.

Boston market hopped back into the arena. Still not understanding the point of the battle, they took yet another swing at a group of giants who declined to even acknowledge their presence.

Legend has it Boston Market took such a big L that they don’t know what else to do other than continue picking fights with other fast food chains on social media, just to be left out in the cold, neglected.

There was a subsequent popular culture eruption of Popeyes chicken sandwich love, and for a short time, there was peace.

The smoke had lastly cleared, and it was Popeyes who emerged triumphant from the Twitter battle. However little did they know that as they dusted the spices off their armor and commemorated their success, brand-new developments were prowling simply over the horizon.

On Aug. 27, at 4: 11 p.m., Popeyes announced they were completely out of chicken sandwiches

After 2 weeks of junk food internet brutality, and a very short period of pleasure and harmony, Popeyes plunged all of us back into hysteria– the whiplash from which we’re unsure we’ve completely recuperated.

Obviously they attempted to remedy the scenario They let consumers bring their own buns to make sandwiches with chicken tenders rather, however this was a bigger issue than that. This was not a paper cut, and Popeyes would learn that you can’t cover a gash with a Band-Aid and hope it heals.

It ended up being clear there was just one option. But Popeyes was going to need time– time the pressing public would barely have the ability to endure

Over 2 months passed with no news on the chicken sandwich. Popeyes tried killing time with sauce reveals, apple pie pics, and tweets that actually read “ Mmmmmmmm … Cajun fries …” All were distinctly inefficient distractions that did little to phase the public’s newfound chicken sandwich tunnel vision. They were precariously close to ending up being the final victims of their own prosperity. And after that, they tweeted as soon as more …

After a two months, Popeyes dropped a bombshell that would protect their long-term accomplishment. The chicken sandwich would return on a Sunday– a not so subtle dig at Chik-fil-A

Popeyes stans and chicken sandwich lovers were all able to sleep a little much better at night with the return of the Popeyes chicken sandwich only a week away. We finally had the hope we needed to make it through.

The dwindling days of the 2019 chicken sandwich dry spell played out over Halloween, where the chicken sandwich still, in some way, had presence. Individuals dressed in chicken sandwich costumes to keep themselves warm on those cold, chicken sandwich-less fall nights.

Finally, at long last, it was Nov. 3, a Sunday. The sandwich that had driven America to the fun end of crazytown was here to remain.

Popeyes has reasonably sustained the droves of consumers and lines out the door that were present at sandwich launch (and relaunch). Even deep into December, you can’t enter into a Popeyes anticipating to get a chicken sandwich in less than a half hour, which we can just envision has more to do with chicky sammy appeal than anything else.

The Popeyes chicken sandwich is now an accredited cultural phenomenon– a cooking heavyweight champ that entered the junk food arena and damaged every sandwich in sight. The Twitter beatdown was an occasion in and of itself, but the sandwich has exceeded its 15 minutes of fame and maintained its momentum well beyond the after-effects. It’s food. It’s style. It’s SNL popular for fuck’s sake.

America came to a chicken sandwich crossroad this past year. While you can still find a few differing viewpoints out there, Popeyes rules the current minute and shows no sign of decreasing.

It’s challenging to know precisely what sparked the web fire over a seemingly unimportant fast food menu product. One would think you ‘d need more than wonderful taste to make that occur. Apparently, we ignored The Sandwich at every turn.

The Popeyes social media squad struck while the iron was hot and played the internet like a violin, using the nation’s fixation with social media to its advantage. However maybe America remained in desperate need of a chicken sandwich that didn’t carry a history of anti-queer luggage, and Popeyes revealed up, a knight in shining orange armor.

Possibly it’s simply that great.

We might never understand exactly, but for whatever reason, the chicken sandwich dominated 2019 in methods we never understood a chicken sandwich could. We endured the battle. We tasted triumph, and then defeat, and then success as soon as more.

The earth is 4.5 billion years of ages, and yet it wasn’t till this year that we chose to live. Welcome to year 1: The year of the chicken sandwich.