Proof of the Pudding
The Changing Chicken by Jane Dixon
Posted by Wayne (Melbourne, Australia) on 16 April 2008 in Food & Cuisine.
I'm currently reading this book here...which is a book, following on from the last, entirely devoted to the study of chickens....or more accurately uses the study of the chicken as a vehicle for the analytical study of food systems, food culture and product chains.
It's a bit of an eye-opener in that it made me recalled a slogan I read once...its from the Republican party in the 1928 presidential campaign "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage". It never ceases to amaze me how fast the world has change and how far we've come. Just a short 70 years ago...or even, from what the book says, 50 years ago...Chicken was a rare and prized meat....reserved only for the most special of occasions...these days no one thinks twice about consuming KFC chicken (unless they're concerned about the fat content). Simply amazing. I also recall reading this policy paper from a think tank written in the 1970s (when everyone was crazy about predicting the future) on food and future issues that will arise. The author outlined back then how in the future, there will be a fundamental shift from craft production of food into mass production of food...and that in its place craft production will shortly thereafter rise to a position of premium status. Sound familiar? It just boggles the mind.
