Food Fight: Aretha Franklin Is Launching a Line of Comfort Cuisine to Rival Patti LaBelle’s Pies
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Two of the nation’s most revered soul singers are taking their long-rumored rivalry to the kitchen.
Months after Patti LaBelle’s sweet potato pies became a viral sensation, Aretha Franklin is cooking up her own line of comfort food.
Though she pointedly says she has not yet tried LaBelle’s now-famous desserts, which sold out so fast retailer Walmart had to scramble to secure 2 million pounds of sweet potatoes, Franklin told Channel 4 News in Detroit that “Miss Patti gon’ have to move that pie to the side.”
Franklin added that she has partnered with a Phoenix-based food group to bring her products to market, which will reportedly include chili, gumbo and “my baked chicken and dressing, which will be in a loaf pan, kinda like you’ve seen Sara Lee cakes.” Sounds … intriguing.
LaBelle, too, says she is branching out with additional food releases at Walmart, which could eventually include lobster and shrimp mac-n-cheese. And earlier this month, LaBelle unveiled her first follow-up products: a vanilla pound cake and a caramel cake that have been branded — what else? — Patti Cakes.
If a food fight should ever come to pass, however, LaBelle may have a formidable advantage up her sleeve in the form of James Wright Chanel. The YouTube personality catapulted the sweet potato pies into the zeitgeist with a review that featured the entertainer gobbling down a wedge with his bare hands and promptly erupting into song.
Related: You Don’t Have to Be Patti LaBelle to Score a Viral Product Review Video
Two of the nation’s most revered soul singers are taking their long-rumored rivalry to the kitchen.
Months after Patti LaBelle’s sweet potato pies became a viral sensation, Aretha Franklin is cooking up her own line of comfort food.
Though she pointedly says she has not yet tried LaBelle’s now-famous desserts, which sold out so fast retailer Walmart had to scramble to secure 2 million pounds of sweet potatoes, Franklin told Channel 4 News in Detroit that “Miss Patti gon’ have to move that pie to the side.”
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