'Hugh's Chicken Run' A Moral Dilemna for DFWs?

Snaggles

We don't tend to buy a lot of meat, but we do occasionally buy Smartprice chicken, which is probably the same stuff as the 2-for-£5 chickens. The programme DID make me feel guilty as I didn't know they were treated so badly, so I probably will buy even less from now on. We can't afford free range chicken though so it will be back to vegeburgers for us!

I agree, it is slightly irritating to be told we shouldn't be buying cheap chicken by people who could probably afford to buy a whole chicken farm (or in some cases, own a chicken farm!), but that's just the nature of TV I think. If it had been Mr Smith from down the road presenting the programme, the viewing figures would have been significantly lower.

notanothergreyhair

There are far too many points to debate on this and related issues for me to list here.

I do not feel guilty and reject anyone's suggestion that I should feel guilty for something over which legally I am allowed to set my own moral compass; again, a debate over the intertwining of law and morality is not suitable for this post.

For many it is a double-edged sword. If one buys free-range at a higher cost than farmed meat, would a person persecute themselves for spending more money when they are in debt? Converse guilt can occur if a person buys the cheaper meat in order to minimise spending but to an animals detriment. In fact, I see no reason why a person should feel guilty whichever path they choose; that is if a person does in fact have the option.

rog2

pania wrote: »

Yay to the sons christmas pressie! would love to keep chickens!!

He had fully assembled it, wrapped it in Christmas Paper and put it by the tree whilst I drove to the Airport to collect my wife, who had been visiting her parents, on their farm, in Italy.
Now there everything is free range, and you know when you are going to eat chicken because one will be 'tied' to a post (6 feet of string) to stop it eating for a day before it is, very humanely, killed.

pania

notanothergreyhair wrote: »

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I do not feel guilty and reject anyone's suggestion that I should feel guilty for something over which legally I am allowed to set my own moral compass; again, a debate over the intertwining of law and morality is not suitable for this post.

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I don't think that anyone is suggesting that you should feel guilty NOGH, just asking peoples opinion. As a veggie i have always refused to get into a discussion over the rights and wrongs of my lifestyle choice, the same that I wouldn't ever question anyones choice to eat meat.

Of course people have an option, but the beauty is that we have the basic right of choice. that doesn't make us any more right or any more wrong than the person standing next to us.

postingalwaysposting

i watched this program but i thought it would come up somewhere like old style. I dont buy food for the house so i have no say, however when i buy any meat it is free range as our the eggs. I do understand the situation of many people mainly 'hayley' in the program. When we were growing up i knew we had cheap food and 2 for £5 was part of our staple shopping bill (suspect it may have been a bit more expensive then), when you are a single parent and on benifits you buy what you can afford. I however find it crual and unneeded, i mean 3million birds are culled before they even reach thier destination ~ surely thats not right. As is the fact that they dont see sunlight, make you wonder :rolleyes:

novelli

No i dont think we should feel guilty at all!!! The fact is its too exspensive!!! and they still die dont they???? I thi nk its a big hoo haa from the hooray henrys, soory dont mean to offend but thats how i see it.
these high profile peoiple should spend more time campaigning for better healthcare/education etc for now instead of how we kill animals!!! Especially when they both have vested financial interests!!!!!!!!!!
too many children dont get the medical help or education they need, when all these issues are sorted out (which will be never), then maybe we can think about the poot chickens!!! it wont happen tho and we all know it!!

theres nothing wrong with the chicken/pork/beef etc that i serve up on a sunday, its delicious and doesnt cost me an arm and a leg!! its regretful if the animal has had to suffer for me to buy it at that price, but hey at least its been put out of its misery!! people come first im afraid and in this country we have a very very long way to go before we should be concentrating on the chickens!!! Thats life im afraid, especially when u are on a tight budget.

skint_spice

rog2 wrote: »

Exactly why I asked the question s_s. We certainly can not afford to buy free range or organic, unless of course it has been 'yellow-labelled'.
I also agree that these 'campaigns' tend to be led by people to whom the pennies don't really matter. It was suggested, on the programme, that Hugh FW, had his own agenda, since he sells his 'River Cottage' free range chickens in his own shop at something like £20 a bird.

£20 a bird? I've found a new career! just need to get myself a wee place in the country.

There are good and bad things about the big names and their do-gooding as Snaggles says if it was just some wee farmer no one would watch and I think Jamie and Hugh et al have done a lot to make folks think about what they are eating (including kids). but at the mo they are seeming ever more pompous and unrealistic to me.

BTW, in the days when people were growing their own veg they were probably not spending a ridiculous amount of time commuting. Cooking from scratch takes up enough time before tending my garden and feeding livestock. once I get the country place obviously this will change...;)

notanothergreyhair

pania wrote: »

I don't think that anyone is suggesting that you should feel guilty NOGH, just asking peoples opinion.

I wasn't suggesting that anyone was suggesting, I was merely presupposing suggestion and contributing my opinion.

ZTD

The choice as to what to buy is a personal one.

Free range chickens do taste better and have denser meat that cooped up ones. I've smacked both with a meat cleaver and can definately attest to free-range being a much sturdier creature.

A lot of it boils down to how you view your food: Do you see it as a substance to fill your belly, or as something that you are going to take in and make part of your body? The value you attach to quality tends to correlate with this viewpoint.

But whatever you do - don't feel guilty. Food is not a bad thing. Guilt is a bad thing.

ShockingPink

This is the "old style" board, isn't it? I would say the old style way would be to buy a little meat when you can afford it, use the whole carcass in various ways, and eat plenty of pulses to eke it out. Buying "2 for £5" chickens is very new style, IMHO


EDIT: that'll teach me to read "new posts" and not check the board title! Sorry...