Napkin

I really do like the napkin and all the work that folk have done in analyzing the drawings. But I have to be that guy and ask the question. Skeptical would be my first thought.

If the 11 ingredients have been a secret for over 60 years. And, in manufacturing KFC have stated more than one company mixes part of the spices so no one has the full recipe. And they "lock" up the recipe in a vault and yada yada yada.

Why oh why would they give the full list of ingredients to an artist to draw/design the napkin.

If it is real it does contain a few obvious spices that everyone agrees or largely agree are in the recipe. Pepper, Sage, Coriander, Ginger, Garlic etc. But the rest could be just drawings of random herbs and spices thought or talked about being in KFC.

Sorry I just don't buy it at this point. But will I try Cardamom in a recipe, damn straight I will

I can totally understand your scepticism and I thought exactly the same. And please always feel free to voice your concerns. We all have the same goal. Here are some points that make me a believer:

1) For me there are far too many matches with what most would agree on and what I figured out myself by experimenting. Its more of a confirmation to me.

2) I am not even sure if this napkin ever appeared in any store after the design phase. It was really hard to find, and if this would have been used, people would have jumped on it like cats. Maybe they stopped it before production and considered it too revealing.

3) The napkin, if authentic, would be the most detailed depiction in my view. Why would they want to make people believe there is nutmeg or coriander in the recipe, when in fact that would not be the case. Making a mystery out of something is one thing, deceiving people a whole different level.

About the two companies mixing the ingredients, do you really think that since all these decades and multitudes of employees operating the machines etc on both sides, no one would ever know the full ingredients and company officials would never talk? Or how about the wholesale traders or producers, that ship silly amounts of 5-6 spices to that particular company that happens to mix one half, and huge amounts of another 5 spices to the other company.

And since they use extracts today, how about the lab staff etc that produce that stuff? So why would they allow someone to know for production and design purposes? Maybe they feel confident and safe that people wouldn't either be able to recreate the recipe after all or that no one could go commercial with a cracked recipe. We all know the legal stories, so what should they actually fear?

The napkin is legit! I could finally track it. It was used in Tokyo, Japan in 2007. Below is a photograph from a branch in Takadanobaba. You can verify it yourself online. Just check customer reviews with pictures online.






Here is my revised interpretation. Bear in mind that the sketches are abstract in nature, sometimes showing the single leaf or seed, sometimes the full plant. As you will notice, it perfectly matches with my interpretation of the vials.

If you do not believe in the vials or think the napkin is rubbish, fair enough. We have already heard all concerns. Play with the items as disclosed or don't. Feel free to just disregard my findings. I think that I am closing in big time here, and I can't fight the feeling that my two most recent posts will be long remembered. 

Is the napkin telling us that KFC uses Coriander leaves and stems (aka, Cilantro) as opposed to seeds?  And similarly also for cloves (whereby I believe the clove spice to be the dried flower).