Chicken

Chicken would have to be the most consumed meat across the whole world. It is eaten by nearly every country and has been for thousands of years! We see a lot more now about battery hens and their treatment for mass producing chickens and the need to return to “old fashioned” farming methods which is just simply letting them roam free. Don’t get me started on this topic but suffice to say free range is very important when buying chickens, not only for the health of the chicken but your own health.

Nutritionally chicken is very high in protein and apart from the skin is quite low in fat compared to other meats eg beef is about 30% fat whereas chicken is about 11% fat and two thirds is polyunsaturated fat. The light meat is lower in fat than the dark meat. The backs and legs have the most fat, followed by the thigh and breast, but breast does contain the most protein. They have some Vitamin A, some B’s (B3 and B5 being the best, with B6 and B12 being present). There is some potassium, sodium, phosphorus, zinc and iron with low levels of calcium and magnesium.

There are so many ways you can prepare and eat chicken and it seems most countries have their own dish on chicken eg Italians = Chicken cacciatore, French = coq au vin, Asia = many stir fry recipes, America = fried chicken. Australian’s are probably more likely to roast their chook!

Did you know only us Aussie’s call a chicken a chook?!