Eat well, Eat Good
I'm lucky enough to live not only with a fantastic cook, but also one who cares passsionately about the food we eat and how it is grown and transported (and it's the same person!). Not everyone lives with Sophie (our house just isn't big enough), so not everyone is constantly bombarded with facts about food miles, chemicals and animal welfare. As I said, I'm lucky.
I'm also very lucky enough to earn enough to buy organic food at Sainsbury's. Not everyone can do this, and because people have constant financial pressure, it's understandable that people want their two biggest and most important costs - mortgages and food - to be as low as possible, and they're always looking to save money. I can see why people think that cheap food - however it is produced - is a bargain.
But if you're a triathlete, you'll know that cheap isn't always best. You really do get what you pay for. And if you're willing to spend £1,000 on a bike to make you glide up hills, and £20 on a pair of goggles to help you see more easily, shouldn't you be interested in putting good things into your body as well?
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame recently been runing a campaign about chicken welfare, called "Chicken Out". He is trying to make people think about the chicken they buy and the life that the chicken has led for the 39 days from birth to death. His TV show on Channel 4 has at times been shocking and very distressing. If you haven't seen it, please try to catch an episode or two.
I'm also very lucky enough to earn enough to buy organic food at Sainsbury's. Not everyone can do this, and because people have constant financial pressure, it's understandable that people want their two biggest and most important costs - mortgages and food - to be as low as possible, and they're always looking to save money. I can see why people think that cheap food - however it is produced - is a bargain.
But if you're a triathlete, you'll know that cheap isn't always best. You really do get what you pay for. And if you're willing to spend £1,000 on a bike to make you glide up hills, and £20 on a pair of goggles to help you see more easily, shouldn't you be interested in putting good things into your body as well?
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame recently been runing a campaign about chicken welfare, called "Chicken Out". He is trying to make people think about the chicken they buy and the life that the chicken has led for the 39 days from birth to death. His TV show on Channel 4 has at times been shocking and very distressing. If you haven't seen it, please try to catch an episode or two.
Hugh is a strong advocate of animal welfare, and frankly he sometimes comes across as a bit potty. But in this show he really touched a nerve with me. He showed how "Standard" chickens - the sort that you can buy hot or cold for a couple of quid in supermarkets - are abysmally treated during their lives. He compares this with the life of a Free-range chicken and shows how just a few small changes can really make a difference to the health and well-being of the chicken, and can make it taste better too:
Hugh is trying to change the way we think about chicken, and so improve the lives of millions of the birds each year. During the show it became apparent to me that the chicken farmers (and our society in general) have started to treat chicken as "just another food crop". Watching Hugh and his poultry-man adviser walking through the bird shed each day and culling limping, weak or underweight birds was akin to a gardener walking through and dead-heading his roses, or plucking the weeds from his potato crop. Remember, though, that chickens are living, breathing creatures who clearly have memories, desires and can feel both enjoyment and panic*
Sainsbury's and Tesco offer Standard chickens for about £2.50 per kg. A free-range version costs about £3.50 per kg. But free range chickens have led a much happier life and have actually been able to see some grass and soil rather thant just sat in their own shit for 39 days. Surely this is worth an extra £1-1.50 per kg?
* apologies if you are someone who believes that Potatoes have feelings too - I am not with you on that one, yet.
"I can't afford it"
When people say they can't afford to pay extra for happier chickens, I think they're missing the point. I know that some people who have very tight budgets, but most still have a choice. To me, the choice is simple:
As well as treating chickens as a commodity crop, we're all starting to treat chicken and other meat as an every-day ingredient. Twenty or thirty years ago it was much more of a luxury - something you'd have for Sunday lunch perhaps, but not two or three times a week. By encouraging worse conditions and cramming more and more chickens into the same living space, supermarkets can offer chickens at such crazy-low prices that people feel they can afford to eat it every day.
But as any athlete knows, it's better to spend a bit more and get a quality product, than to buy an inferior product and regret it when it doesn't feel right.
Of course, it's easy for me to sit in my ivory tower and proclaim that chicken should now be a once-a-week treat (except for me, of course, 'cos I can afford to eat it when I like bucko, along with my steak butties). But if it's right that we should only eat chicken every-now-and-then, and we should spend more on the chicken we do buy, people still need to be told what they are allowed to eat.
What we really need is for someone nice to come up with a great meal plan that will replace your 3-times-a-week chicken dinner with something that is equally nutritious,cheap (cheep) and tasty. When that happens, I think we'll then have a really compelling case for persuading people that switching from cheap chicken to better welfare chicken is a real possibility for everyone, no matter what their budget.
Hugh's videos - warning: if you care about animals at all, these will upset you. Please watch them anyway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Vbf1ykXsY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXXADo8UqkI
- less cramped conditions
- a few hours outdoors time
- more entertainment by way of a few things to scratch
- a few more days to fatten up
Hugh is trying to change the way we think about chicken, and so improve the lives of millions of the birds each year. During the show it became apparent to me that the chicken farmers (and our society in general) have started to treat chicken as "just another food crop". Watching Hugh and his poultry-man adviser walking through the bird shed each day and culling limping, weak or underweight birds was akin to a gardener walking through and dead-heading his roses, or plucking the weeds from his potato crop. Remember, though, that chickens are living, breathing creatures who clearly have memories, desires and can feel both enjoyment and panic*
Sainsbury's and Tesco offer Standard chickens for about £2.50 per kg. A free-range version costs about £3.50 per kg. But free range chickens have led a much happier life and have actually been able to see some grass and soil rather thant just sat in their own shit for 39 days. Surely this is worth an extra £1-1.50 per kg?
* apologies if you are someone who believes that Potatoes have feelings too - I am not with you on that one, yet.
"I can't afford it"
When people say they can't afford to pay extra for happier chickens, I think they're missing the point. I know that some people who have very tight budgets, but most still have a choice. To me, the choice is simple:
Eat as much Bad chicken as you can afford, or treat yourself
and the animal well and eat Good chicken, but less of it
But as any athlete knows, it's better to spend a bit more and get a quality product, than to buy an inferior product and regret it when it doesn't feel right.
Of course, it's easy for me to sit in my ivory tower and proclaim that chicken should now be a once-a-week treat (except for me, of course, 'cos I can afford to eat it when I like bucko, along with my steak butties). But if it's right that we should only eat chicken every-now-and-then, and we should spend more on the chicken we do buy, people still need to be told what they are allowed to eat.
What we really need is for someone nice to come up with a great meal plan that will replace your 3-times-a-week chicken dinner with something that is equally nutritious,cheap (cheep) and tasty. When that happens, I think we'll then have a really compelling case for persuading people that switching from cheap chicken to better welfare chicken is a real possibility for everyone, no matter what their budget.
Hugh's videos - warning: if you care about animals at all, these will upset you. Please watch them anyway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Vbf1ykXsY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXXADo8UqkI
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