Over the past ten years the chicken fillet roll has come into it's own as a symbol of Irish culture. Thousands of these bad boys are served every day in delis up and down the country. They are a national treasure, like Michael D. Higgins or Dustin the Turkey.
In the wake of the CFR revolution there has been a shining light in that has encompassed all that the CFR is about. That shining light is the CFR Review.
We got in touch with the CFR Review (that's Chicken Fillet Roll for the uninitiated) Facebook page to get some background on their motives, CFR history and seeing what the future holds for the humble CFR.
When did you have your first CFR?
My first CFR was during school. I was privately educated, and to eat a CFR in those days from that background was an abhorrent taboo. The rest of the school were all big into eating smashed avocado smoked chai seed Paninis and sundried lentil drizzled slow-pulled boar on an open faced deconstructed sandwich. But I always felt a yearning for something with a bit more edge and MSG. I was aware of how ashamed my parents would have been, and probably could have faced expulsion from school.
Attending school in town, there was always a few kids on the bus who would be doing CFR’s down the back, and while you mightn’t always be able to see it, you could always smell it. I will never forget the rush of sitting in the fumes as they teemed through the top deck of the bus, while the rest of the passengers tutted and clucked. So when I was about 14 I experimented with CFR, or breaded smack as we used to call it. It was an awakening of sorts, and I have been hooked ever since.
When was the first CFR created?
Advertisement
St.Brendan brought the first CFR to Ireland on his return from his mystical journey around the Atlantic Ocean, where he visited many countries including the landmasses that would later become the USA and Canada.
On his return journey he faced less gentile seas and frankly uncordial winds. 49 days into his journey all seemed lost for poor Brendo, until out of the salt-drenched sea mist a heavenly hand reached out and said ‘Be not afraid o child of Mine. Butter or Mayo?’ and the rest as they say are history. Brendan survived the remaining return trip thanks to this celestial CFR Technician.
Has the golden age of the chicken fillet roll passed us by, i.e. the boom times?
Time is an unwieldable force of nature. Tacking on calendars and watches is a useless exercise. It might allow us to measure it, but it will never be ours. We learn of time through our means of measurement, and in doing so we lose perspective as to what dictates the other.
So no I don’t believe the golden age of the chicken fillet roll has passed us by. In astrological terms, the age of Pisces has just ended. The age of Poultry has just begun.
Do you ever fear that the meme-well that is the chicken fillet roll has come to represent will dry up somewhere down the line?
Advertisement
The meme is the greatest invention in communication since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. We laugh about them, and their influence on modern media, but we would hazard a guess that we get 90% of my current events information via meme.
In our world of constant gratification, every story now must come with an endorphin rush of happiness from a whimsical source.
Chicken Fillet Roll memes will last forever.
How much time and dedication is put into a page like CFR review?
It’s a full-time job. We have 42 people currently working in CFR HQ, with plans to hire more. Of our current staff over half of them are job-bridge interns, which is a brilliant zero hour contract scheme which means we pay staff next to nothing, while baiting them with the promise of a full-time contract to keep them working long hours.
Win-win, and hilarious.
Advertisement
What makes the perfect CFR?
Everybody has different tastes, and every deli provides a different experience, but ultimately the pivotal input is attention to detail. There are numerous examples of this; cutting the roll into two even halves, spreading the sauce or toppings consistently, providing the fillet is snugly tucked in with all the toppings. We can tell in a CFR Technician’s eyes before they have asked us butter/mayo if this is going to be a good roll.
How important is the chicken fillet roll to the Irish public as a whole?
There is no single food that has played a bigger part in your life. That’s all there is to say. Don’t mind the Sunday Roast, the burrito, or the bowl of cereal before bed, the chicken fillet roll fuels every single young-adult Ireland has reared for the most seminal moments in their lives.
What is the overall goal of the CFR review page?
Our manifesto from day one has been to provide the low down nitty gritty on the sickest chicky filly from Ho Chi Minh to Dublin City. We want to find the world’s best and worst, and everything in between.
The page is a vehicle to launch the humble CFR into its long overdue limelight where it belongs.
You can check out CFR Review's Facebook page here.
