History of Chicken  

The chickens that are raised and farmed today for poultry and for the harvesting of their eggs actually descended from two different birds: The Red Junglefowl and the Grey Junglefowl. These birds were first domesticated in various parts of India thousands upon thousands of years ago, and then bred together to make a hybrid, which has evolved into modern day chickens. Chickens and their meat have been eaten by man for millenniums. There are even carvings that have been found which date all the day back to Babylon, during 600 BC.

During the Middle Ages, chicken was the most readily available of all meats. Many people consumed it because it was more affordable than other meats, and because it was considered to be easier on the digestive system than red meat. Another reason was because there were many different ways that one could cook the meat; used in stews, soups, as main dishes and so forth. Chicken was especially popular as a main fare in the Eastern hemisphere, where many different species of chicken were domestically farmed for human consumption, including: Capons, chickens, hens and pullets.

An old time popular white meat dish that was commonly consumed included stewed chicken and onions that were fried, and then the chicken was simmered in milk with spices and sweetening added for flavoring. In the US, during the Second World War, chickens became a staple to daily eating, as there was a pork and beef shortage during this time. In the late 90s, Europeans were consuming more chicken than they were any beef products, mostly due to mad cow disease, or Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).