I killed a chicken yesterday

Susie_Q

Well, not directly, but I ordered it's death. Actually, my interpreter did. I'm like the Hitler in this equation; not murdering anyone myself but sending the orders down the ranks to do it. I'm the subcontracting corporation.

I went to the local market (no Tesco here! Am in Asia) where there is a cage full of mangy-looking chickens and asked to buy one. No problem - the man chopped off its head with a machete and then chatted amiably to us while the headless chicken wriggled and writhed around on the counter in front of us, surrounded by flies. Blood everywhere. He hacked off the feet and then deftly removed the chicken from its skin in one move, like pulling a wet glove off a too-big hand. He pulled out all the guts and at this point looked at me and laughed. He must have seen the look on my face. I forced myself to watch the whole thing, I figured it was only fair if I'm going to eat the chicken to see the process that goes into making it ready for consumption.

I have been a meat-eater all my life and love eating meat. But I have to say, seeing the chicken killed and butchered in front of me was a bit much. I cooked it at home and between the poor quality of the meat and the queasiness in my stomach I couldn't eat it.

Would you eat chicken if this was the only way you could get it? i.e. If you had to watch the animal be killed, skinned butchered etc. If, hypothetically, it tasted good.

allanb49

Did it taste good?

If so whats the problem?

Poor Uncle Tom

Susie_Q wrote: »

Well, not directly, but I ordered it's death. Actually, my interpreter did. I'm like the Hitler in this equation; not murdering anyone myself but sending the orders down the ranks to do it. I'm the subcontracting corporation.

I went to the local market (no Tesco here! Am in Asia) where there is a cage full of mangy-looking chickens and asked to buy one. No problem - the man chopped off its head with a machete and then chatted amiably to us while the headless chicken wriggled and writhed around on the counter in front of us, surrounded by flies. Blood everywhere. He hacked off the feet and then deftly removed the chicken from its skin in one move, like pulling a wet glove off a too-big hand. He pulled out all the guts and at this point looked at me and laughed. He must have seen the look on my face. I forced myself to watch the whole thing, I figured it was only fair if I'm going to eat the chicken to see the process that goes into making it ready for consumption.

I have been a meat-eater all my life and love eating meat. But I have to say, seeing the chicken killed and butchered in front of me was a bit much. I cooked it at home and between the poor quality of the meat and the queasiness in my stomach I couldn't eat it.

Would you eat chicken if this was the only way you could get it? If, hypothetically, it tasted good.

Newsflash, all meat has to die to be eaten, I've never seen a cow walking around with bites taken out of it, it has to be dispatched so I can enjoy it's meaty goodness......

soniasharma

oops i can't eat.. I am pure vegetarian girl.

mongoman

Susie_Q wrote: »

Would you eat chicken if this was the only way you could get it? If, hypothetically, it tasted good.

It doesn't kill itself you know, so how else is it gone to end up on your plate?

Mr. CooL ICE

soniasharma wrote: »

oops i can't eat.. I am pure vegetarian girl.

You are missing out on such awesome food

texidub

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Newsflash, all meat has to die to be eaten, I've never seen a cow walking around with bites taken out of it, it has to be dispatched so I can enjoy it's meaty goodness......

Not exactly. In deepest Africa when times are hard, poor families will slice some meat from their cow (if they are lucky enough to have one) and then stitch it back up.

:eek:

soniasharma

LordChessington wrote: »

You are missing out on such awesome food

No problem Buddy..

jester77

I had to kill a chicken once. It was a team building exercise and we were taken to a forest and spent the day on a survival course. After the course was over we were taken back to camp and we thought we were done for the day and could go on the beers. However they blindfolded us, split us into groups, loaded us onto trucks, drove us into the middle of the forest, dropped us off, gave us some utensils, told us we would be putting the training into practice and drove away. Dinner was a chicken tied to a tree somewhere in the forest and we had to find it and kill it.

I had no problem killing it (pull the neck and twist). You would be surprised how easy it can be once you're starving.

Chuck Stone

I've killed and gutted fish so I think I'm a wee bit desensitized so I reckon I could eat it.

I love me some southern fried chicken.

Susie_Q

mongoman wrote: »

It doesn't kill itself you know, so how else is it gone to end up on your plate?

I mean if you had to watch it be killed, skinned, butchered etc.

Bruthal

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Newsflash, all meat has to die to be eaten, I've never seen a cow walking around with bites taken out of it, it has to be dispatched so I can enjoy it's meaty goodness......

The op might of meant if you had to have it killed and processed in front of you, its not the same as picking one off the shelf in tesco, even if both were obviously killed.

nicechick!

Reminds me of a a story as children we had chickens one day we arrive home and noticed the chickens weren't there we sat down to a delicious dinner of chicken someone mentioned where did the chicks go? my mothers replies ''your eating them'' we didn't eat the chicken thereafter!

We have the luxury of having everything displayed nicely for us so don't blame your reaction!!

sbsquarepants

Don't feel bad OP.
I've choked manys a chicken - never felt a seconds remorse for it either;)

Davidth88

At least you knew it was fresh !!!!

I would have no issue with that , I have eaten Lobster, where they pull it fresh out of a tank.

Corvo

Least he died a quick death!

txpjl

Susie_Q wrote: »

I forced myself to watch the whole thing, I figured it was only fair if I'm going to eat the chicken to see the process that goes into making it ready for consumption.

I have been a meat-eater all my life and love eating meat. But I have to say, seeing the chicken killed and butchered in front of me was a bit much. I cooked it at home and between the poor quality of the meat and the queasiness in my stomach I couldn't eat it.

Very hard to do. Better off not sitting through that again.
I would eat it, if it was the only way, but would not sit and watch the prep process.

I've seen my grandfather kill and prep rabbits and geese/chickens when I was younger, hasn't put me off meat but I don't need to see it either.

I heard the cat and dog i ate being killed.. Didn't affect the taste though.

facemelter

I found that a fish youve gone out and caught , gutted , seasoned and cooked your self tastes nicer cause you can appreciate the effort involved , alot more work than just buying one !

Bruthal

facemelter wrote: »

I found that a fish youve gone out and caught , gutted , seasoned and cooked your self tastes nicer cause you can appreciate the effort involved , alot more work than just buying one !

A lot more work than having one picked from the tank and killed alright.

facemelter

robbie7730 wrote: »

A lot more work than having one picked from the tank and killed alright.

Worth it though :P imho

Bruthal

facemelter wrote: »

Worth it though :P imho

It is for sure. Althought picking from a cage is what happened in the OP.

Susie_Q

Susie_Q wrote: »

Would you eat chicken if this was the only way you could get it? i.e. If you had to watch the animal be killed, skinned butchered etc. If, hypothetically, it tasted good.

Not unless I was stuck for food
My conscience is slightly appeased about eating meat by the fact they're well dead by the time they get anywhere near me
killing them outright, no

Mr. Presentable

Susie_Q wrote: »

I cooked it at home and between the poor quality of the meat and the queasiness in my stomach I couldn't eat it.

.

This is wrong. If you are going to kill an animal you ought to eat it. Otherwise, as in this circumstance, the poor creature has died for nothing.

Me? I have had butcher training and learned to respect the source of food and repeated preparing of animals for the pot naturally becomes mundane, and it will for you if you go to the market every week.

Bruthal

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

This is wrong. If you are going to kill an animal you ought to eat it. Otherwise, as in this circumstance, the poor creature has died for nothing.

Me? I have had butcher training and learned to respect the source of food and repeated preparing of animals for the pot naturally becomes mundane, and it will for you if you go to the market every week.

There is the difference, not everyone had that training, and if someone feels sick or a bit off after witnessing the event, they cant make themselves feel better instantly. And if the meat is in fact very poor, should the OP still eat it so the animal didnt die in vain?

A good percentage that eat chickens every week from the supermarket shelf would struggle to do so in the OP`s scenario.

Gyalist

I've killed more chickens than I can remember.

Also, the expression "running around like a headless chicken" is actually true. One of the first times that I killed a chicken, I took my foot off the bird thinking that it was dead, only to see it get up and run blindly around for a few seconds before eventually collapsing. I was only about 9/10 at the time and after that I always ensured that the chicken's feet were securely tied together.

Although I didn't mind killing them I absolutely hated plucking the feathers.

Sky King

I think we are all waaay too detatched from where our meat comes from. People are just so used to seeing it wrapped in cellophane that they don't realise that someone actually ends the creatures life!

Then again you could be too far the other way, like a mate of mine who casually remarked to me when discussing the leftover bullets on his kitchen table after a day's target shooting

'I'm saving those spare rounds for my dinner. Each one of those bullets is an animal's life'.

Knowing in detail where meat comes from does not make me want to eat it any less, but it does make me very concious about not wasting the food.... hate wasted food.

Ever been in an abbatoir? Now THAT'S an eye opener!

epgc3fyqirnbsx

The most honest way to eat meat is to see it be butchered and to rear it yourself if possible. There's nothing quite as sobering as leaving some animals that you reared, and in some cases handfed until they were strong enough, to a factory. It's not pleasent but you sure as hell respect your food more

arybvtcw0eolkf

jester77 wrote: »

I had to kill a chicken once. It was a team building exercise and we were taken to a forest and spent the day on a survival course. After the course was over we were taken back to camp and we thought we were done for the day and could go on the beers. However they blindfolded us, split us into groups, loaded us onto trucks, drove us into the middle of the forest, dropped us off, gave us some utensils, told us we would be putting the training into practice and drove away. Dinner was a chicken tied to a tree somewhere in the forest and we had to find it and kill it.

I had no problem killing it (pull the neck and twist). You would be surprised how easy it can be once you're starving.

I hate that kinda crap, killing another living thing for the craic.

I'm in the army 27 years and have done countless courses & training exercises on the ground and have never had to kill anything for dinner, or for a laugh.

OP I worked in a slaughter house when I was a teenager so I'd have no problem looking at my dinner killed and fed to me.

biko

Yeah I've killed animals for food, growing up partly on a farm.
Not sure I could do it today but it's the natural order of things.

sensibleken

Um all meat is killed! I hate this congnitive dissonance some people have that they are perfectly happy to eat the muscles, fat, veins, tendons, liver, kidneys of an animal as long as they dont have to see how its actually gotten. Either accept that blood goes everywhere when you kill and butcher an animal or become a vegan

Susie_Q

sensibleken wrote: »

Um all meat is killed! I hate this congnitive dissonance some people have that they are perfectly happy to eat the muscles, fat, veins, tendons, liver, kidneys of an animal as long as they dont have to see how its actually gotten. Either accept that blood goes everywhere when you kill and butcher an animal or become a vegan

I know that all meat is killed. I'm a meat eater and I know where my food comes from. But I had never before ordered meat when the animal was still alive and watch it killed and prepared in front of me. I suppose growing up in Ireland enabled me to create a huge distance between an animal I see in a field and the nicely packaged meat products on the supermarket shelf.

For the people who said I should have eaten it, I honestly wonder if you would say the same thing if you had seen the state of this poor chicken. I'm living in a small town in a poor country and the chickens are in bits; very scrawny with half their feathers missing and not very healthy looking. I had been craving meat very badly which is why I wanted to try it out; I don't think I will be doing it again.

Bruthal

Sky King wrote: »

Ever been in an abbatoir? Now THAT'S an eye opener!

I thought they were more of an eye closer.

Conall Cernach

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Don't feel bad OP.
I've choked manys a chicken - never felt a seconds remorse for it either;)

I always suffer from wangst afterwards.

sensibleken

Susie_Q wrote: »

I know that all meat is killed. I'm a meat eater and I know where my food comes from. But I had never before ordered meat when the animal was still alive and watch it killed and prepared in front of me. I suppose growing up in Ireland enabled me to create a huge distance between an animal I see in a field and the nicely packaged meat products on the supermarket shelf.

For the people who said I should have eaten it, I honestly wonder if you would say the same thing if you had seen the state of this poor chicken. I'm living in a small town in a poor country and the chickens are in bits; very scrawny with half their feathers missing and not very healthy looking. I had been craving meat very badly which is why I wanted to try it out; I don't think I will be doing it again.

fair enough. I came accross a bit harse there, sorry about that. Im glad you wont be eating it again, if people saw the state of battery farmed chickens in this country a lot less would eat it too

Bruthal

sensibleken wrote: »

Um all meat is killed! I hate this congnitive dissonance some people have that they are perfectly happy to eat the muscles, fat, veins, tendons, liver, kidneys of an animal as long as they dont have to see how its actually gotten. Either accept that blood goes everywhere when you kill and butcher an animal or become a vegan

Many people would be put off by seeing the actual animal killed. People can like meat without ever seeing it killed, amazingly enough.

Meat eating without seeing any animal killed is just one of many things we do and take for granted due to modern convenience. And very often the reality if ever faced can be a bit shocking for many.

Bruthal

sensibleken wrote: »

if people saw the state of battery farmed chickens in this country a lot less would eat it too

Yea id say your right there.

chin_grin

Protip, Vegetarian-like morality and the food chain don't mix.

I feel sorry for veggies though. But I agree meat is murder, tasty tasty murder.

Fieldies Dreams

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Don't feel bad OP.
I've choked manys a chicken - never felt a seconds remorse for it either;)

How do you sleep at night you monster.

It wasn't me!

Yes, I hunt and will happily kill and prepare my own food. Not to say it's a pleasant process but like a few people have already said, you definitely appreciate where your food comes from better as a result. Though we're polar opposites on where we came out of that test, I absolutely agree with sensibleken that the cognitive dissonance people display regarding meat products is pretty unsettling. I would always describe myself as an animal lover, and while I will kill and eat them, there's never any malice or contempt or lack of respect on my part.

F.U.B.A.R

Ben Hadad

Do what I do.

Ben Hadad wrote: »

I was bored in India once and saw a chicken coup selling live chickens with the in house butcher chopping up the next purchased chicken. Felt sorry for them so I bought one for about €4 and tied some string around his neck and brought him walking along the beach for a while. The string wasn't really working too well so mainly had to carry him in my arms. Bought him some food and basically brought him on a date.

After getting to know each other and meeting some of the locals and other high jinx, I waded into the water and threw him in to the air. I thought it would be funny to release him in this way. He fluttered around and swam/ran away, probably to be mauled by some wild dog, but maybe not.

He had a better chance of survival due to my actions than where he was. So before the moral brigade get on their NSPCA high horses (is that not literal animal cruelty?), it was mutually beneficial for both of us.

sensibleken

Ben Hadad wrote: »

Do what I do.

why would NSPCA people think that was cruel?

Poor Uncle Tom

You have to objectify the situation.

Chicken: Modern relative of the Dinasour. If the tables were turned do you think that buzzard wouldn't be neck deep in your innards guzzling to it's hearts content?

It's in a cage for a reason, you know.....;)

starch4ser

How did you do that? Did you choke him?

smash

You should have pointed at it and shouted "off with his head" and then gave him a thumbs down as you looked into his beady little eyes.

Irish Guitarist

My father used to hunt rabbits and I would eat them when I was a child. As soon as I became old enough to use the cooker myself I stopped eating them. I would usually grill a burger as it was all I could cook. I was still eating meat but the way I saw it someone else would have bought the burger from the supermarket and ate it if I hadn't, whereas I thought if my father knew I wasn't going to eat rabbit he might shoot one less.

I'm a vegetarian now. Having said that I hope you didn't throw the chicken out. You could have left it somewhere for a passing stray dog to eat. At least then your conscience might have been appeased a little by knowing you were helping another animal.

Emiko

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Newsflash, all meat has to die to be eaten, I've never seen a cow walking around with bites taken out of it, it has to be dispatched so I can enjoy it's meaty goodness......

There´s a book called ´The Blue Nile´in which the author describes the 19th century practice of Ethiopians stripping flesh from the posteriors of live cattle, for a quick raw snack, which provided a renewable source of protein.

Many of Bruce’s observations of Ethiopian culture, such as the
stripping and eating of raw flesh from live cattle, seemed
so preposterous to Europeans, that his accurate reports
were not believed when he later made presentations in
London and published his journals.

CrazyRabbit

Hens tell scary stories to their chicks about me. I'm a mass murdering, serial killing sociopath and I like it.

I don't care how they die, and it's their own fault for tasting so yummy.

Poor Uncle Tom

Emiko wrote: »

There´s a book called ´The Blue Nile´in which the author describes the 19th century practice of Ethiopians stripping flesh from the posteriors of live cattle, for a quick raw snack, which provided a renewable source of protein.

I stand corrected.

*grabs salt and heads for the fields*

Paddycrumlinman

Watch the Documentary Earthlings and that is some eye opening ****e when it comes to the food that ends up on our tables..

A must watch for everyone. Sickening how the human population treats other living creatures...