I suppose I should know better, considering all of the celebrity chefs, nutritionists, and green activists championing the merits of free range and ‘natural’ poultry.  But the Purdue bird looked plump and perfect and meaty, and it was on sale!  So I hefted the beast into my shopping cart and brought her home.

The preparation was simple enough, and I followed a tried and true family method: rinse the bird with water and pat dry with paper towels.  Salt and pepper inside and out, reserving the bag of giblets separately.  Sprinkle lemon juice over the skin of the bird.  Place half an onion (with skin on) and the squeezed lemon half inside the bird, and tie the legs together with twine.  Roast for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, then turn the heat down to 325 for another 15 minutes per pound.

With all of the above completed, and a meaty gravy made from the giblets served alongside, I carved the meat for dinner.  The first couple bites were eaten in silence.  “Is it okay?” I tentatively asked RJ.  “It’s chicken,” he replied.  No, really, it wasn’t.  RJ’s unenthusiastic response was more generous than this meat deserved.  I tasted zero of that luscious, rich flavor a good chicken delivers.  If you’ve ever eaten at Hammersley’s Bistro in Boston’s South End, you know what a chicken can be, and this was FAR from that Platonic ideal.  In fact, I’m not sure that the meat we ate was even the same species.  The supermarket bird was clearly pumped full of water, and who knows what it was fed throughout its short life, but it did not make for a yummy bird.  The result of the practices of the mass-market producer was a completely insipid piece of protein not worth the $6 I paid.

Coincidentally, the day following the chicken disaster Ms. Alice Waters waltzed into town for a talk at Harvard University, and I immediately signed myself up for a ticket.  For those who don’t know this true ‘maverick’ of a woman, she is the owner and chef at the acclaimed Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, CA.  She is also an avid proponent of the “Slow Food” movement.  Carlo Petrini, the global spokesperson for the movement, writes in his book Slow Food: The Case for Taste, that he and his followers support and advocate the “gaining and spreading knowledge about material culture [meaning the methods of authentic food and wine production]; preserving our agricultural and alimentary heritage from environmental degradation; protecting the consumer and the honest producer; and researching and promoting the pleasures of gastronomy and conviviality.”

Petrini is infamous for leading a vigorous and loud protest against the opening of a McDonald’s in front of Rome’s Spanish Steps.   In his book he laments the proliferation of fast food chains throughout the world – a trend that has resulted in the standardization of taste and the supplanting of authentic, local and diverse regional restaurants with imperialistic, uniform, low-quality chain restaurants, to the detriment of all future generations’ ability to appreciate food (the hyperbole is his, not mine, but I’m feeling the passion).  Slow Food, named in contrast to fast food and all that it implies, advocates gastronomic education; the preservation of traditional foods, preparations, animals and plants; and the right of all humans to have access to quality products.

Alice Waters, in her light, breathy voice, sang the praises of the convivial dinner table as a starting point for all of these ideals.  According to her, 85% of kids in America don’t eat one meal with their families.  My immediate thought when I heard this was, I bet they don’t even use a knife and fork anymore.  With Pop-Tarts, chicken fingers and pizza slices, all consumed on-the-go, there’s hardly a need!  When Ms. Waters called the family table “a civilizing place,” I nodded in agreement.  If we cannot even get our kids to eat at the table, how will they ever learn to savor their food and appreciate quality ingredients?  My chicken from the other night may have been perfect in “Chicken McNuggets”, coated in batter and fried, but was hardly suitable for a dinner table of discerning palettes.

 Now, there is of course an understanding among these Slow Food leaders that it costs money to buy quality, and it takes time to make it.  My giant Purdue bird was a mere $.99/lb., whereas the local farm in my town sells free-range, home-grown poultry for $2.79/lb.  But at the farm, I can see the chickens and how they live.  I can shake the hand of the man who plucked the feathers out for me and ask him how fresh the bird is.  My $12 goes toward supporting him and his family as well as the living conditions of the farm animals, rather than towards a multi-national corporation and their slaughter-factory.  The choice is a no-brainer.  As for the time issue, this is one of the hardest aspects for the busy Gen-Y-er to adopt.  If Purdue chickens are in the supermarket, along with everything else you need to buy for the week, it is a lot easier to do a one-stop shop then to drive to your nearest farm for a free-range chicken, then swing by the dairy farm for your cheese fix.  But Alice Waters points out that you shouldn’t feel put out or obligated by anyone or anything to make your multiple stops – you should just be able to taste the difference.  Feel free, of course, to pick up the Purdue “Fit and Trim” chicken breast fillets, but know that you will have an experience like I had this week – and you will be disappointed.  The choice is yours, but the choices you make affect the outcome not only of your dinner, but also the future of food production.  If everyone buys all their food in the supermarket, the farms may stop selling the good stuff, and we won’t have the luxury of choice at all.

 I can tell you, however, that the movement is taking off.  This weekend I spent some time in New York City and a lovely Saturday morning at the bustling Union Square Green Market.  All of the participating tables at the market are local producers and farmers.  Walking through the stalls selling heirloom tomatoes, sheep’s milk cheeses, huge heads of cabbage, and delicious pies and jams, I was in awe.  I drank pear cider, sampled several different apple varieties, learned about how to cook quince, and ate a slice of home-made carrot bread.  Granted, we aren’t all so lucky to have Union Square right next door, but local markets are everywhere, and it is worth seeking them out.  I will even say it is essential.  Alice Waters told me to, and after the chicken fiasco, I can’t argue.

I am sorry to not have a recipe for you all today, but I have a message instead, which all foodies can appreciate.  Good food is worth eating.  Good wine is worth sipping.  They are both are worth our efforts to preserve and protect them.  Take some time to learn about Slow Food and its principles, and taste the “Delicious Revolution” as it transpires.  You will not regret it.

P.S. And for some comic relief, wander around this website that offers a forum for the debate about McDonald’s.