They crossed the (back)roads for chicken

Lost and don’t know where to find your next, fantastic fried chicken dinner? Well, let the Great Carolina Fried Chicken Map guide you to your next bucket of deliciousness. There’s even a shout-out to Gamecock football and USC’s Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia!

Whether you prefer traditional Southern-fried, chicken-and-waffles, Nashville-style hot chicken, Korean double-fried, smoked-and-fried, wings, biscuits or sandwiches, all of the different varieties are covered on the map. There are 319 stops throughout North and South Carolina, pulled together by Amanda Fischer and Paul Bright of EDIA (Every Day is an Adventure) Maps in Burlington, NC.

“There’s a lot of mystery over fried chicken and how favorite restaurants get that perfect crispy bird,” Fisher, said. “Some fried chicken has a thick and craggy crust with a lot of crunch. Others are thinner, flakier, and lighter. Everyone has their preference. And the questions always is — how did they do it? Without giving away any priceless family recipes — those are held way too close to the chest, anyway — the maps gives you some of the secrets.”

On the back of the map are descriptions of each dish or of the restaurant and a bit of history or odd fact along with a broader history and culture of fried chicken and a timeline spanning nearly 10,000 years.

“Though it comes in map format, the depth of what we provide is really more like a guidebook,” Fisher explained. “The density of details and information is packed in tight, but we present everything in such a graphic, visual way that it’s easy and very quick to understand. It’s intuitive, really.”

Maps are available for purchase at www.ediamaps.com. Folded road maps are available for $9.99 and poster versions for $29.99.