Archive for January 9th, 2008

I’ve been watching Hugh’s Chicken Run (featuring Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall) on Channel 4 for the past two days and I’m looking forward to this evening’s installment. The programme, if you haven’t seen it, highlights the plight of the battery farmed chicken. These birds go from chick to food in 39 days, during which time they will not see daylight, will live in spaces so confined that they have no room to move, will be overfed to the point where they can barely stand and will have to live in their own filth for that entire period. This is wholly unacceptable.

The poultry industry as a whole seemed very keen to quickly shut Hugh and his camera crew out, so he started his own farm. Interestingly, he divides the large chicken shed in half and rears 2,500 birds intensively, and 1,500 as free range. The difference in the flocks is amazing. The free range chickens run around, go outside, and generally seem to enjoy their environment and life in general. Conversely, the battery chickens become increasingly lethargic as they grow. Very sad to see.

Sick birds in the battery farm are routinely culled each day, because they are “unprofitable” - a process which reduces Hugh (and no doubt many viewers) to tears. The whole thing is completely sickening.

Let’s not misunderstand each other here though. I do not subscribe to “animal rights”, and I enjoy eating meat - especially chicken. In fact, I would go so far as to say animals don’t have “rights”. These creatures are incapable of analysing their own situation, claiming their so-called “rights” or doing anything to change their lot in life. Instead, I believe that we as humans have a responsibility to care for our animals and treat them with respect, even if we are breeding them simply for food. In fact, this ability to care for less intelligent creatures and dignify them is one of the key qualities that sets humans apart from animals. Further, any person that shirks this responsibility in favour of a quick buck is, in my opinion, sub-human.

The supermarkets have much to answer for here. As Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall frequently emphasises, Tesco selling two chickens for a fiver is a total nonsense. They claim they are simply catering for a low-budget market, but I have to dispute this. I cannot afford to dine on fillet steak frequently. I do not have some divine right to dine on fillet steak, so I do not expect to dine on fillet steak. I do not need to eat fillet steak. The same is true of chicken. If a family genuinely cannot afford to pay more than £2.50 for a bird, then they should not expect to eat poultry so frequently. Chicken is not a staple dietary requirement and it is perfectly possible to purchase healthy, filling, nutritious and tasty food without resorting to buying cheap chicken. In fact, as Hugh ably demonstrates, one chicken can be made to go twice as far by fully stripping the carcass and making delicious risottos and soups. Using the carcass of one free range bird, that many onlookers agreed was fit for the trash, he stripped enough meat to make 6 good portions of chicken risotto (with the help of an onion, a few veg and a bag of rice - all cheap ingredients).

The supermarkets are all giving Hugh the run-around. No-one wants to be interviewed. Why? If they were happy with their produce and practices, surely they would be prepared to stand by them? But of course they know that what they are doing is unacceptable, and hence they don’t want to put their name to it. They would rather turn a blind eye and count their immoral profits as punter after unsuspecting punter walks out of their stores with two battery farmed birds for £5. It’s all about the money.

The thing is, it’s very easy to mount one’s high horse on a topic, but it can be somewhat more difficult living up to such high aspirations. For example, my wife and I decided not to eat battery farmed chickens a while back, and we have been enjoying the superior flavour of free-range birds since. It’s easy to make an informed choice when buying a whole bird, but what about all the other chicken products you might buy? Chicken escalopes, chicken kiev, chicken roll for sandwiches, chicken soup, pre-packaged sandwiches, et al. Are we really to assume that free-range meat is being used to make any of these products? Probably not. The packaging certainly doesn’t tell you.

My wife phoned me before dinner yesterday asking whether she should chuck out a box of chicken escalopes she had found in the freezer, because they were almost certainly battery farmed. After a bit of thought, I came to the conclusion that such an action would show even less respect for the bird’s life. We can’t turn back time and unbuy something, and to throw out food would make the animals life mean even less. So, we decided to eat them, and eat them we did. Won’t be buying any more though.

A free range chicken costs around £5 - £6. This seems perfectly reasonable to me, considering how many it can feed. For those that still say they really can’t afford the extra £2, here are just a handful of examples showing how you can save two quid in other aspects of life to pay for that delicious chicken:

Smoke 8 less cigarettes
Drive 10 miles less
Drink one less pint of beer
Turn off lights when you leave a room
Watch a film on TV or a DVD you already own instead of renting one

£2 is a small price to pay for a clear conscience, and if as a result battery farming of chicken is eliminated, or at least greatly reduced, then that would be a great result for the social good.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a great presenter and I’ve really enjoyed the Hugh’s Chicken Run series of programmes, not least because they take place just down the road from where I live, but I particularly love his attitude to food and his waste-nothing approach to meat. If ever you need an example of how to show respect to the animals you eat, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is it. His website is at www.rivercottage.net. You can get more information on this programme and sign up to the Chicken Out campaign at www.chickenout.tv.

If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t forget to watch Hugh’s Chicken Run on Channel 4.