Talking Turkey
- 9 Feb 08, 12:21 PM
“And so puppet of parody par excellence Dustin the Talking Turkey is firm favourite to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest with his song ‘Twelve Points, Deuze Poins’. But why am I surprised? He’s hardly the first turkey in the competition and one thing’s for sure, he couldn’t be a worse choice than last year’s entry which, if I remember correctly, actually came last!
Anyway, I’m rambling on when what I really wanted to talk to you about isn’t turkeys, but chickens, ?1.99 chickens to be precise.
I just cannot believe that any supermarket chain in their right mind would think of trying to offer their shoppers cheap chicken after everything that we’ve seen and read about intensive breeding. Have they not been watching Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fernley Whitingstall? Do they not realise the appalling conditions in which these poor birds live their brief lives, in pain and distress, not to mention the fact that they are being pumped full of god knows what to keep them disease free in their cramped, filthy, cages? Do they imagine that their customers are uninformed or uncaring.
I have absolutely no problem whatsoever eating meat from livestock specifically bred for the purpose (sorry vegetarians), but just because, from the moment they are born, their destiny is to end up on our plates doesn’t mean to say that their lives should be filled with unrelenting misery. Indeed, whilst I love my meat I would sooner give it up than buy into that. Surely in this day and age when we know that organic and free range is better for the animals, as well as for ourselves, we should be moving more strongly to support ethical methods of farming… and what that means is moving with our feet, our purses and our plastic to the suppliers who can deliver that promise.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that people, including myself, have budgets they need to stick to and organic or free range is going to be three times the price. The thing is, if you’re dividing that chicken up, you may get a smaller portion but it’ll taste a hell of a lot better, it’ll be healthier and you won’t have bought into the misery of intensive poultry farming. Add lots of good local veggies and spuds and after you’ve finished you can use the bones to make stock. Unless, of course, you are the mad, bad, dangerous to know, Michelin star chef Marco Pierre White who is currently to be seen advertising a well known brand of stock cubes. Mmm, you wouldn’t get that from Gordon Ramsay.
So, as you push your trolley around the supermarket today, might I suggest that the only thing worse than being offered a cheap chicken would be to actually buy one. It would certainly take a lot more than one of MPW’s stock cubes to make it palatable.
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