Chicken tonight? or Chicken goodnight?

Posted: Saturday November 21, 2009 by Nick in Blogs

Please do not view this blog if you’re squeamish, but if you eat chicken, well, this is for you, from plucking to removing the innards and some giblets preparation.Its not pretty, but its real and if you are a chicken eater perhaps its best to face the truth than pretend your dinner was not once a living being!

We are not showing the killing part here,we thought it might be a little too much, pehaps for a future article. We would like to say it was done swiftly and surely by knife into the brain stem, the French method. We think this is a better option than the necking method because it is swifter and more certain in the hands of non experts like ourselves.

The whole process, on 3 young cockerels was done outdoors by a team of IET people one Sunday lunchtime recently. All but our instructress were novices and there was an atmosphere a little like initiation into a solemn ancient order. A cross between a party, a wake and a fascinating biology lesson

Respect, gratitude, and awe were my feelings.The thought that these innocent creatures help to sustain us by giving their lives is,awe inspiring, its a huge thing.

I felt moved and humbled,and my sense was that the others were similarly affected. But there was also a sense of liberation, joy even, perhaps a release from the guilt that we have stored knowing that this task has been delegated, de humanised, but no more. It does not have to be that way and we re connect with the reality of life, death, food, everything!