Hey, real question time: what is the deal with chicken and waffles? I’m not trying to be snarky or anything, it’s one thing I never got while living in the South. They don’t seem like things that should go together, and yet I keep seeing people talk about it as the ultimate comfort food.
I wouldn’t call it the ultimate comfort food, but it was really good at this particular place.
I think it’s the basic “Sweet and Savory” combination, is the best way I can explain it.
Accompanying chicken with bread has been a tradition for a long time, just as biscuits still are commonly served with fried chicken.
To my understanding, waffles were a novelty among the African American community during the Reconstruction Era, along with having access to chicken, so having the two together was treated as a special occasion dish. It comes to reason that diners started offering it to attract customers willing to pay for a such a dish, and it pretty much stuck around in popular cuisine from there.
I too am lost on why the combo is seen as such a great one, but again, the basic reasoning for being together is that chicken goes with bread.