I ate chickenier chicken!
To be honest, it was relief to eat meat again, well substantial food of any kind. Since reading Pollan's chapters based around Salatin's farm, I've decided to reconsider my eating choices. I haven't yet decided where that will take me. And I have yet to finish researching all my options for local, sustainable food. In the meantime, my first decision was to try to cut out all industrialized, processed food. I haven't been in a supermarket for the past four weeks. The only industrial food that I've eaten since reading Pollan's first few chapters was the Kashi cereal I already owned at the time. As I am sure you can imagine, this has severely limited my diet. I've been pretty much living on the cereal, eggs (sustainable), nuts and produce (sustainable).
I already don't eat much meat, not for any moral reason, I just don't cook it very often. Most of the meat I get is already prepared (take-out, restaurants, etc.). Since, for the time being, I have eliminated prepared foods, I haven't eaten meat in weeks. I have to say, after the first few weeks, I started to miss it. Which leads me to my chickenier chicken. The local sustainable agriculture group I found referenced restaurants that support local farms and I tried one this weekend. It was a small BYO, very quaint. I had the chicken dish, which was very rich, but very good.
When I read Pollan's "chickenier chicken" claim, I had thought "oh, brother." I just didn't think it was possible to make chicken taste chickenier. I've had "free range" chicken, and kosher chicken, and though they do taste different, I never thought of them as tasting chickenier. So though I was conscious of the claim, I had already dismissed the possibility of finding chicken chickiener. Yet that is exactly what I thought when I took that first bite. A couple bites in, I had convinced myself that it was the sauce that was making the chicken itself taste richer. So I cut out a piece of the chicken, without any sauce on it, took a sip a water to clear my palate and tried just the chicken. Again, it tasted chickenier to me. I decided it was in my head and filled up quite contentedly on my delicious meal. Towards the end of the meal, I offered a bite to one of my dining partners. I had said nothing about the "chickenier chicken." In fact, they knew we were there because of the Buy Fresh Buy Local reference, but they were much more focused on the produce, not the meat aspect. Her response to the chicken "It doesn't taste like chicken." I just exploded and told them all about the whole chickenier chicken thing. I kept saying, it can't be true, can it? My other dining partner tried, and he said it tasted almost like turkey, much more full-flavored than chicken normally tastes. So, the moral of this tale is there is such a think as "chickenier chicken" (I guess). My meal, and my guests' meals according to them, were all outstanding. It was fun seeing the menu that was designed using mostly local ingredients (their menu changes constantly according to what is available to them), and it felt good to support a restaurant that supports local agriculture. I highly suggest it; see if you find the chicken to be chickenier.
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