Planet Chicken: The Shameful Story of the Bird on Your Plate by Hattie Ellis
I’d like to start by saying that it’s a little ironic that the very first book I’m reviewing for the tastybooks site is one of the least appetizing reads of the year.
Planet Chicken is a well-informed look at the world of chicken farming. It takes us on a journey through the history of chickens from farm birds to their current state as ‘lumps of matter’, via cockfighting and the salmonella crisis of the 1980s. But this is not predominantly a history book, it is an issue book. The issue being that we humans as a race are eating so much chicken that the only way to sustain our habit at pricing point we have come to expect is by employing methods of intensive rearing so horrific, that if someone were to be caught on camera doing it to just one backyard bird, it could plausibly form the basis of an RSPCA fundraising video.
Having said this book is centred around an issue, the main prong of which concerns animal welfare, it does so while managing not to be a tub-thumping, vegan-shoe wearing, carnivore-hating pamphlet. By looking at the facts, the author takes us through the possible health implications for humans and the appealing alternative of eating less - but much much nicer - chicken.
If you are reading it, the chances are, you are making moves towards the organic and the free range already. Issues such as food miles, the state of our school dinners and genetic modification have more than likely already appeared on your radar over the last few years - which is why you will hopefully enjoy, or at least feel engaged by this book. It helps to fill in the gaps and along the way hands out a generous basket of chicken and egg related facts; from the history of cockfighting and its centrality to London street-naming, to what really constitutes a free range hen and who controls an industry which sees these birds ending up on our tables, in our sandwiches and deep fried, half masticated on our pavements.
Planet Chicken is a well-organised book, neatly separated into two halves. The first half, “What are we doing?” covers the grim reality. This is not for the feint hearted but as I have alluded to already, if you are reading it, you would probably rather not than remain in the dark anyway. The second is entitled “What can we do?” and gives a somewhat lighter and more hopeful side to proceedings. This technique of two halves serves two purposes. Firstly, it helps to create a balanced view about the life of chickens; by discussing on the one hand what we are doing to chickens through modern farming process and the positive action we can take on the other.
Secondly and - from a reader’s point of view, more importantly - it acts as a relief from the stream of unrelenting and gruesome imagery; broiler birds who cannot walk, the hot water bath which they are passed through to loosen their feathers before the rubber fingers pluck them and the battery hens who have had their beaks removed so as not to damage each other or fight their keepers. I must admit I had trouble picking it up at times during the first half, worried that I was going to be subject to another barrage of horror before bed time. Thankfully, once I passed over the brow of the hill, the view was more hopeful. Descriptions of chickens in the natural surroundings abound as do those of the quarter of a million Brits that keep them as hobby-fowl. Even the way farmers dye free range egg yolks darker by feeding them marigold petals, and descriptions of old-school cockfighting seemed lighter and somehow more innocent than our modern, mechanised acts of cruelty.
I changed my chicken buying habits within hours of reading the first few chapters of this book. As the author points out several times, with reference to various other food revolutions in recent history, if we can all change a little, then we can contribute to real progress.
Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall has written the foreword to this book and there clearly could not be a finer champion or higher endorsement. The baton which he has been running with, with notable success over the past few has been taken up and run with on fresh legs.
Comments
2 Comments on Planet Chicken: The Shameful Story of the Bird on Your Plate by Hattie Ellis
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Simon on
Wed, 11th Feb 2009 9:27 pm
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Top ten list format | tastybooks.co.uk on
Wed, 18th Feb 2009 1:00 pm
Welcome to the blogosphere Tastybooks! An enjoyable review to kick off, though as you say, hardly appetising. The agency where I work has RSPCA Freedom Food as a client, so we are quite aware of these issues, and Jamie and Hugh have done their bit to raise the profile too, so I hope habits are starting to change. However, buying free range at the supermarket is one thing, but knowing what’s in your takeaway is something else entirely!
[...] Modern food comes with a hidden cost. Hattie, with a little nudge from HFW in the foreword gives us the grisly detail. Reading this is akin to cleaning out the hamster’s cage - when it died in there months ago - it has to be done but you’ll feel genuinely relived you did. For a full review of the book click here. [...]
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