A beloved fixture at Bama Dining, Diane Bonner recently celebrated 50 years of serving up delicious meals on campus. Of course, most wouldn’t know that about her. They would know her famous fried chicken.
Ms. Diane, as she is affectionately known, has been making her secret recipe for fried chicken for three years now. Fans line up inside Fresh Food Co. across from North Lawn Hall every Thursday to get her chicken — and sometimes a photo.
“It takes a little getting used to,” she said of her celebrity status. “Students have been stopping me and wanting to meet ‘the lady who makes the chicken’ and sometimes they want to take a photo with me.”
Ms. Diane starts prepping the chicken on Wednesday for the lunch rush the next day. “We go through a lot of chicken, usually 12-13 cases,” she said. She also makes the macaroni and cheese and cornbread for the Thursday lunch, but it’s her chicken that sends the line almost out the door.
“Students tell me my chicken is like a piece of home away from home,” she said. “And that really makes me feel good because I just put my heart into it.”
Despite nearly half a century of working with Bama Dining in some capacity, Ms. Diane has no plans of leaving anytime soon. “I just love what I do,” she said. “I also just love coming here every day, cooking and meeting the students.”
And what happens to her secret fried chicken recipe when she does finally retire? “Oh, I will take that with me,” she laughed. “I told my son I would pass it down to him and that’s what I want to do.”
Ms. Diane’s chicken is available at Fresh Food Co. every Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Watch: Ms. Diane Makes Her Famous Fried Chicken
