Eric Cartman embodies food addiction with his KFC obsession

If you looking for a fictional take on a real issue — food addiction and obsession, Eric Cartman is your poster boy.

Cartman claims he's big-boned, not fat. In the pilot episode, Cartman's mom offers him powdered donut pancake surprise. Though Cartman isn't in the mood, he does end up with chocolate chicken pot pie — of course, with Cheesy Poofs.

Last night's "South Park" episode dealt mostly with medical marijuana, but the subplot was Cartman's obsession with Kentucky Fried Chicken.

On the show, a law was passed banning fast food outlets in poor areas, so KFCs are no longer legal in Colorado, where the show takes place. The Colonel's chicken goes underground, replacing marijuana as the forbidden fruit.

Cartman lets us know through the episode that KFC isn't KFC without gravy, but when Cartman is offered only the gravy at a methadone clinic (some things about South Park are better when you see them), he complains that the gravy isn't enough without the mashed potatoes and the extra crispy chicken.

Cartman finds a group that is smuggling in KFC, though when Cartman gets involved, he starts eating the profits. And in the episode, Jamie Oliver is working for the other side.

The underground chicken run brings in the actual Colonel, forgetting that the real Col. Harlan Sanders died in 1980, and takes us to Corbin, Kentucky where the original Sanders restaurant first started — long before there was a franchise. Kudos to Trey Parker and Matt Stone for getting that detail right.

In a past episode, when the boys are eating KFC, Cartman tricks his friends once the chicken arrives, and proceeds to eat all the skin off all the pieces before he's caught.

Given the pseudo-libertarian vibe from Parker and Stone, they are likely attacking restrictions on where fast food places can locate. Not that they think fast food is good, but that this is something we shouldn't regulate. I would offer an alternate point that poor neighborhoods should have fast food restaurants but also have good grocery stores and fewer food deserts.

And that KFC was easier to obsess about in the old days when the chicken was cooked better and the food was fresher. I could still obsess about the Kentucky Fried Chicken from my youth, something I don't see in today's product.

Still, while in cartoon form, and a tad over the top, Eric Cartman is a little more real in our lives than we might want to admit. For Cartman, food is a security blanket, and in that realm, too often, food choices end up being poor ones. Freeing yourself from that blanket can help you make better choices, and still allow a little room for an occasional taste of fried chicken, even with a little gravy.

South Park airs on Wednesday nights at 10 pm Eastern on Comedy Central. Reruns of this particular episode air Thursday night at 10:30 pm ET and Sunday night at 11p and 2a.

photo credit from South Park Studios

Comments

[Unhealthy foods]

This story is cute! And addiction to KFC food. KFC tastes good, and we can't blame people being addicted to it. We are just need to control ourselves if we still wanna have a healthy body!

[n shox]

Every tragedy makes heroes of common people.

[Eric Cherry]

KFC tastes good!!!