Skip to main content

Why We Eat So Much Chicken, ©Jonathan Becher

 In the 50 years since 1970, the world’s population has doubled while the number of chickens we eat has increased nearly 7-fold, from 11 billion to 74 billion.

So, why do we eat so much chicken? According to the National Chicken Council, it started with a mistake in 1923.

Like many rural Americans, Cecile Steele of Ocean View, Delaware kept a small flock of chickens as a source of eggs. The chickens would eventually become food once their egg-laying days were over. However, one day the local chicken hatchery accidently delivered 500 birds, 10 times more than Steele had ordered. Apparently, a clerk had written 500 on the order instead of 50.

To give you a sense of the size of the mistake, in the early 1900’s the largest farms only had ~300 chickens. Clearly, Steele didn’t need that many eggs so she decided to raise the chickens for meat. Less than five months later, she sold them for a huge profit.

Eureka! A new business was born. Steele’s husband quit his job to help with an expansion and, within three years, they had 10,000 chickens. By 1928, hundreds of farmers in the area followed suit, raising chickens for their meat instead of for eggs.

A huge expansion in the supply of chicken meat only makes sense if the demand increased as well. Fortuitously, the Steele’s expansion happened during the Roaring 20’s – a decade of unprecedented U.S. economic growth. As consumers felt wealthier, they wanted to consume more meat – chicken was less expensive and more plentiful than beef. These chicken farms were conveniently located near the rapidly expanding cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In addition, advances in refrigeration and transportation made it feasible to ship chickens to remote areas.

Marketing also played a role in why we eat so much chicken. Chicken benefited from the claim it’s healthier than red meat, even though the science is unclear. The perception that chicken’s white meat is healthier than red meat is so widespread that the pork industry launched a campaign entitled “Pork: The Other White Meat.”

Scientific advances made chicken less expensive to raise than beef or pork. For example, once farmers began fortifying chicken feed with vitamin D, they could raise them year-round indoors, without worrying about rickets. As a result, at a typical U.S. grocery store, the price per pound of chicken is less than half of other meats.

When the Steele’s started their expansion in the 1920’s, chicken accounted for less than 20% of U.S. meat consumption; these days, it’s above 40%. The beef industry’s slogan might be “It’s What’s For Dinner” but the reality is more often chicken.

We eat so much chicken due to a simple mistake made 100 years ago.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Mary Did You Know" by Mark Lowry

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AUTUMN

  SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AUTUMN By Joan Rowden Hart, Oct. 17, 2016 The hickory tree stands tall in the yard A harbinger of the season to come Dispensing nuts as the wind picks up A change in the weather so abrupt These are the sights and sounds of autumn The first tryma just rolled down the length of the roof But they’ve been littering the roads for days They crack under the wheels Causing car brakes to squeal The sights and the sounds of autumn. A chill in the breeze says it won’t be long now Old winter will be here too soon But there are still pleasant days For the sun’s warming rays And the sights and the sounds of autumn Leaves drifting on the wings of the wind as they play A kaleidoscope of nature’s own making Rusty mauve, glittery gold Red and orange bright and bold These are the sights and sounds of autumn. Smoke rising in the air from bonfires here and there Hotdogs impaled on sticks, embers glowing Crisp and crunch as you bite In the evenings waning light More sights and sou...

NATIONAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 1977 - Joan as delegate

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN THE MAKING   MISSOURI Document 139: "Delegates to the National Women's Conference" (Houston: National Women's Conference, 1977). 15 pp. DELEGATES TO THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE The voices and faces of American women delegates to the National Women's Conference reflect the diversity of this country's female population. Self-descriptions of the delegates, ages 16 to 80, indicate a myriad of women's roles and occupations, There ane single and married women, mothers, daughters, and grandmothers. There are homemakers, working women, students and retired women. Delegations include a number of nuns, secretaries, teachers, nurses, lawyers, ministers, fadory workers, handicapped women, technicians, and women from urban, rural, farm and ranch areas of this country. DELEGATES Angie Bennett, Springfield Joan Brier, Columbia Shirley Clough, Glendale Mary Gale Doyle, St. Louis Mae Duggan, St. Louis Karen Dukewits, Indepe...