Eating Albion

Lots more talk about part II of Hugh’s Chicken Run… with the final part coming tonight. There’s a fair amount of debate on the C4 message boards, Hugh’s own site and the BBC Food Message boards.

There was a lot of praise in emails to the channel too:

“Last night’s Chicken Run was superb - a very worthy subject and a very compelling TV programme. Please let me know where to send my licence fee money - you deserve it more than the BBC! “

“Thank you for bringing the plight of the chicken to the homes of millions in the UK.”

“Superb thought-provoking documentary.”

“I would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate Channel 4 for commissioning an excellent and important piece of television programming in the shape of Hugh’s Chicken Run and the Channel Four Food Fight season.”

And finally this, which I think is really fantastic:

“I don’t know if you could show this to Hugh but I would love you to, I have just started watching this program tonight an I am a single mum of 2 and I have to say I would go in my supermarket tomorrow and buy a free range chicken and eggs never again will I buy caged. I also have made my mind up of converting part of my garden for chicken run, I just have to save up 2 get it done. But thank you Hugh and Channel 4 for opening my eyes for me and my kids. WE WOULDN’T TREAT A DOG LIKE THIS SO WHAT’S SO DIFFERENT FROM A CHICKEN. We kill chickens so the least we can do is treat them a lot kinder before we eat them let them feel the breeze and be free NO MORE CAGES!”

You can’t argue with that! There’s been plenty of argument and some good counter viewpoints and supplementary facts provided by Farming Today on Radio 4, however. Anna Hill spoke to various farmers and industry experts about some of the practicalities of various production methods. You can listen to them via iTunes here, here and here.

Nigel Joyce, a large-scale producer of 800,000 birds in Norfolk, vents spleen. Whereas NFU poultry spokesman Charles Bourns thinks the programme will stimulate the industry. Paul Waddington talks about broiler hens actually having a smaller carbon footprint due to their short miserable lives. Mark Williams from the British Egg Industry council points out that if the 18 million hens in cages were switched to free range, we’d need 18 million hectares of land for them to be free range, which is coincidentally the amount of land Argentina used to grow GM crops last year.

The ‘poor’ argument doesn’t hold much water in my book. Like others I think it is possible to shop and eat well on a tight budget in this country, but like everything it takes effort and planning. And isn’t the amount of disposable income spent on food way less than it was in the 50s anyway? According to the Telegraph/uSwitch, the cost of food has risen by 22% in the last ten years, while the gross household income has risen by 55%. Besides, we’re not really talking here about the most vunerable in society, but your average B, C1 and C2 families (to use that awful grading system) that make up a lot of this country. As David Hurst puts it, ‘[Supermarkets] claim they are simply catering for a low-budget market, but I have to dispute this. I cannot afford to dine on fillet steak frequently. I do not have some divine right to dine on fillet steak, so I do not expect to dine on fillet steak. I do not need to eat fillet steak. The same is true of chicken.’

It’s all food for thought. I think people’s habits can change, and quickly too, but they need the right information to make an educated choice along with the right involvement from Government and business. Look at free-range eggs, smoking in public or wearing seat belts - these all changed in a generation. A better informed consumer is a better consumer all round. But at the till people will (quite rightly) vote with their wallets, for better or for worse.

Finally, I rather like this ‘tale of a chicken‘… and the tip of a bit of bread up the jacksy is very interesting. I’ve never seen that before.