A Bucket of Vegan Fried Chicken 🍿
Long Island’s Happy Pig

If you are a longtime reader you may know that certain vegan options get me more excited than others. For one, vegan options that are made from scratch. Vegan options on Long Island, where I suffered through a dearth of options when I first went vegan more than 20 years ago, for two. So compound the motivation of a vegan option made from scratch on Long Island—and you got me on a train… easily. I needed to get a “Clucket Bucket” of vegan fried chicken from The Happy Pig…

The Happy Pig operates out of a pink school bus. The Pig is happy because they offer all-vegan grub. I am happy because they make their own vegan fried chicken, a vegan eat near and dear to my heart. In fact, I may have to embark upon a second showdown of Fried Chicken. But I am getting ahead of myself as I often do.

It was the “Clucket Bucket” that had lured me onto the commuter rail. The “Clucket Bucket” is 10 pieces of their chicken, along with two sides. I bought my bucket and was ready to head home on the very next westbound train.

But I could barely wait to try it! I ate my first piece in the waiting room of the train station, embarking upon a photoshoot that might have amused anyone who caught a glimpse of what was happening on the camera that afternoon. (i.e. me on the floor). Here is the bucket’s innards. 10 big pieces of their vegan chicken–made with a combo of wheat and soy protein.

The breading, which plays a tremendous role in achieving vegan fried chicken desirability, was craggy, crunchy and flavorful.

The “chicken” had the texture and color—which is way more than half of the battle. It didn’t have much flavor in it of itself–as is true of “real” chicken. So that oddly contributed to its feel of being chicken-y.

The first of several piece I would eat with my hands.

But first I’d eat it good and proper while streaming Freaks & Geeks.

It was a fantastic meal well worth the train ride. Well done, Long Island. Well done, The Happy Pig.

After I ate this meal I ate a few more piece cold. A very enjoyable tactile experience to say the very least! The Happy Pig has hit the nail on the head with capturing the nostalgia of childhood eats–the familiarity of their vegan fried chicken is steeped in the best of those memories, without any harm inflicted on any animals.