When you see “free range chicken” on the label, do you think that means they grew up outside — like in that picture above — then came home to a roost each night? That’s sure what it sounds like, isn’t it? Well … not quite.
According to the USDA, chickens raised for meat may be labeled as “free range” if there is access from their shed or quonset hut to the outdoors. In other words, a small door opening to a concrete pad would qualify. News flash: chickens are timid, clubbish kind of critters. It’s the rare chicken that would push through that door and venture out alone. And what would be the value of their stroll on the carport even if they got there?
Go check out the rest of the article on A Conscious Feast and see if you want to spend extra on “free range”.
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But with a little research and willingness to look for smaller producers in your area, you can find chicken raised in a coop and yard. They seem to be called cage free most often. And, oh is it worth it. The taste is so much better, and my husband (from a country that does not mass produce its food) tells me it tastes “real.”
To second Cara’s idea, even in the very un-progressive area where I live, there are a few small producers of “real” chicken. Most of them refer to their birds as “pastured” or “raised on pasture”. The farmer I buy from only sells from the farm, and seeing next month’s crop of birds out in the field is reassuring.
I’ve heard this about chicken. We have to be so careful to not make assumptions. Just because something says “Organic” doesn’t mean it is local, sustainable, or somehow better. I read that 20% of organic food comes from China!!
I hear snail sare good to eat. I have a lot of (truly) free range snails in my yard…
Good news, though: the USDA just banned the OCIA from certifying Chinese food organic, due to conflict of interest (the OCIA was staffed by inspectors from Chinese government agencies — which obviously is a conflict of interest where export law is concerned, as it’s profitable to export “organics.”)
It’s hard to weed out foods from other countries, even countries with China’s notable record for exporting POISON, in any prepared foods. You can always request country-of-origin labeling at your grocery store, and it’s our best defense… but it will not apply to packaged goods.
In general, though, the “Organic” standard is the only one that means much — barring issues of import/export, it’s usually trustworthy AND generally indicates more humane treatment of animals (this is incidental but important to lots of people I know) as well as the barring of toxic chemicals. Most labeling standards (such as “Natural”) aren’t well policed or regulated; organics are — with the exception of pet foods, which are being labeled as organic even when no standards exist yet to enforce.
May I recommend Marion Nestle’s works? She has some amazing books — also, her blog http://www.foodpolitics.com is just fantastic.
Snails, or slugs? Because slugs I’ve got.
I have both. I’ve heard that the snails an edible delicacy. If the slugs are edible, we’re in business!!! I look forward to reading your slug recipes.
Oh! And the one time I tried snails, I found out I’ve got a shellfish allergy to them… hahaha! But they WERE delicious. Weird texture, yummy flavor.
Back in 1996 I had heart bypass surgery. When I came home from the hospital with all kinds of dietary recommendations, I asked my dear husband to call the gourmet grocery to find something healthy for dinner. He inquired about the spa food and came back to me with a short list of things that included “three ring chicken.” I pictured a chicken dish with a circus of colorful veggies and thought it would be great. He went to the store and came home with “free range chicken,” plain baked. He sheepishly told me he had misheard the person on the phone! Yeah, three ring – free range – sounds alike to me?!? It didn’t taste wonderful, either. Perhaps I had post-surgery depression or perhaps even back then, “free range” was a ripoff.
One thing a lot of people don’t realize about meat chickens is that the most common meat bird right now is the cornish cross. Cornish X, as they are called, have been bred to grow to full size in about 8 weeks. They also grow abnormally big breasts, because people love breast meat. The problem is that these birds grow so rapidly, and have such big breasts, that by 8 weeks they pretty much HAVE to be slaughtered because they cannot stand, can barely breathe, and hardly walk around at all. So there’s no point in those birds being free range, because all they want to do is park their butts in front of the feeders and load up. People who try to keep them past 8 weeks find them dropping dead from cardiac problems.
Personally, I have moral qualms against engineering a bird like this. It seems like a bird should have a chance to run around live a bit of a life in addition to being our food. Unfortunately heritage or dual purpose birds take 12-20 weeks to reach market size, and farmers have a hard time competing price-wise when they have to spend twice as long feeding a bird to get it to slaughtering size. However people who are used to eating this kind of bird say the taste is so much better than the quick-grow cornish x birds, they are willing to pay a premium for them. They are popular with immigrants who are used to eating farm-raised birds in the old country. I hope eventually we will all know the difference and have a chance to buy whichever type suits us.
Best bet is finding a local farmer’s market or other local supplier of locally raised chicken. Second choice is free range at the supermarket. “Your grandmother” sure didn’t cook the stuff our country is buying today!
I’ve often heard that in large numbers, chickens can be dirty animals. they’ll usually peck at or eat anything off the ground (even if it came out of them…) and they will often fight each other, leaving scarred flesh. in smaller numbers, completely free range chickens are fine, but ive heard that keeping them even in small walkabout cages is for their own safety and quality. having said this, all other animals are good to go, and the free range animal ALWAYS tastes better. a happy animal is a tasty animal!