I have been watching a lot of foodie programs on the TV this week. They are one of my favourite kind of programs. The one that has the biggest impact on a lot of people is Hugh's Chicken Run. This was a 3 part program that was presented by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to raise awareness of how cheap chicken is farmed. He has a campaign running called Chicken Out which is to try and raise our awareness and understanding of how the chickens are kept.
I have never been a vegetarian but I am very aware of where my food comes from and how it was treated before it got to my plate. I believe that as long as the animal has led a happy life then the consumption of meat is OK.
I think it is terrible that of the 850 million chickens that are consumed in this country, 95% of them are reared inside in awful conditions. The reason for this is that the majority of people want to eat meat regularly but they don't want to pay very much for it. I never buy intensively farmed meat and I am very lucky to have a wonderful butcher near me where I can buy all of my meat.
I know that people think that their individual actions don't make a difference. They do though. Imagine the impact on the industry if everyone stopped buying cheap chicken and bought a free range one instead.
I do understand why people buy cheap food especially if they are on a budget. Personally I would rather have a more expensive free range chicken but have it less often.
Please sign up to the campaign. It does matter and you can make difference.
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3 comments:
Very glad to see you're blogging about this too Teresa. I signed up a good while ago too.
George xx
I think it's very important that people start to think about where their food comes from ... not only chicken meat. People want cheap food but if they had to produce it themselves and sell it for profit they would see it's just not possible to do so at these prices. So if food is ridiculously cheap they should maybe make the connection about the conditions it has been produced under. Problem is most people just don't want to think about it!
pi xxx
I completely agree with you Pi. Its not just about chicken but all food. I am very aware of where my food comes from and hopefully make informed choices based on that. Sadly some people don't think like that and just base their decisions on how cheap something is.
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