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How the Chicken Conquered the World: The epic begins 10,000 years ago in an Asian jungle...
Smithsonian magazine ^ | June 2012 | Jerry Adler and Andrew Lawler

Posted on 06/18/2012 7:06:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

The chickens that saved Western civilization were discovered, according to legend, by the side of a road in Greece in the first decade of the fifth century B.C. The Athenian general Themistocles, on his way to confront the invading Persian forces, stopped to watch two cocks fighting and summoned his troops, saying: "Behold, these do not fight for their household gods, for the monuments of their ancestors, for glory, for liberty or the safety of their children, but only because one will not give way to the other." The tale does not describe what happened to the loser, nor explain why the soldiers found this display of instinctive aggression inspirational rather than pointless and depressing. But history records that the Greeks, thus heartened, went on to repel the invaders, preserving the civilization that today honors those same creatures by breading, frying and dipping them into one's choice of sauce...

Chicken is the ubiquitous food of our era, crossing multiple cultural boundaries with ease. With its mild taste and uniform texture, chicken presents an intriguingly blank canvas for the flavor palette of almost any cuisine. A generation of Britons is coming of age in the belief that chicken tikka masala is the national dish, and the same thing is happening in China with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Long after the time when most families had a few hens running around the yard that could be grabbed and turned into dinner, chicken remains a nostalgic, evocative dish for most Americans. When author Jack Canfield was looking for a metaphor for psychological comfort, he didn't call it "Clam Chowder for the Soul."

(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: chicken; dietandcuisine; godsgravesglyphs; poultry
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Full subtitle: "The epic begins 10,000 years ago in an Asian jungle and ends today in kitchens all over the world".
Chicken reigns in the 21st century. [illus. by Tim O'Brien]

How the Chicken Conquered the World

1 posted on 06/18/2012 7:06:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: SunkenCiv

Still no word on which came first, apparently...

2 posted on 06/18/2012 7:11:03 PM PDT by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Skevos did well when he decided to stew that old bird up.


3 posted on 06/18/2012 7:13:26 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: SunkenCiv
Roma (gypsies) traditionally carried a cage of chickens with them under their wagons. It was of every type of chicken ~ black, brown, striped, gold, white ~ so that a 'stolen chicken' could not be readily differentiated from one they'd raised themselves.

Plus, they could always sell a chicken for cash money as the need arose.

When I was quite young I bought a bantum rooster and his brown hen from a gypsy in the community. He could fight like nobody's business.

4 posted on 06/18/2012 7:16:12 PM PDT by muawiyah
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The ultimate evolution of the Chicken as a species:

http://www.stroudsrestaurant.com/menu.html

Mark


5 posted on 06/18/2012 7:17:38 PM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: MarkL

Just don’t try pan frying old roosters.


6 posted on 06/18/2012 7:23:51 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: muawiyah

My father’s father used to lock all his animals in the barn when they heard the gypsies were in the area in MN. My dad remembers the commotion when he was a little boy. The animals would disappear if they weren’t locked up. (At least, that is what my father said). It was during the Great Depression and Dad said no one stole or went hungry out on the farms. Then, he amended the statement-—and said there was stealing, but only if the gypsies were traveling through.

Stereotypes exist for a reason. Gypsies didn’t believe in private property rights.


7 posted on 06/18/2012 7:25:47 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: SunkenCiv

Tastes like chicken.


8 posted on 06/18/2012 7:27:15 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: SunkenCiv

its whats for dinner. I remember back to when I got to go and catch a chicken and place it in the funnel....then bleed it out and pluck it with grandma. Yummy! Then it was off the fetch some squirrels and maybe some dove and it wasnt long before we had dinner. Rabbit was excellent when grandma deep fried it as well. Something about lard and butter that made everything she made, better.


9 posted on 06/18/2012 7:29:23 PM PDT by Michigan Bowhunter
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To: SunkenCiv

10 posted on 06/18/2012 7:29:44 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: savagesusie
Turns out they believe in their OWN private property rights. The literature regarding the traditional gypsy scams suggests they had no pity on anyone who let greed enable them to steal his stuff.

With the arrival of WWII most Roma in America went to California and other West Coast locations to do light metal work ~ mostly in the aircraft industry.

They've subsequently lost their 'culture'. Nothing like regular, steady employment to put an end to life on the road.

There's an entirely different group ~ the Travelers ~ who are not Roma. They are not ethnically the same, but a handful of Roma did enter UK at about the same time the Enclosure laws were putting tens of thousands of Irish and Scottish tenant farmers on the road.

Those Roma quickly expanded their reach into UK society and pocketbooks by "hiring on" native Irish and Scottish people.

Those are the folks your father feared in Minnesota.

11 posted on 06/18/2012 7:32:52 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Michigan Bowhunter

Lard makes anything better.


12 posted on 06/18/2012 7:36:26 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: presidio9; mylife; muawiyah; MarkL; savagesusie; Moonman62; Michigan Bowhunter; JoeProBono

Thanks!


13 posted on 06/18/2012 7:37:41 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Interesting article.

Click on the photo at the link for the full picture.


14 posted on 06/18/2012 7:38:11 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: muawiyah

The travelers where Irish


15 posted on 06/18/2012 7:38:19 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: SunkenCiv
Everybody loves chicken!


16 posted on 06/18/2012 7:41:24 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


17 posted on 06/18/2012 7:41:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
Photobucket

Photobucket

18 posted on 06/18/2012 7:45:00 PM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: savagesusie
Gypsies didn’t believe in private property rights.

Sure they did. It is just they only believed in Gypsy property rights.

It is a rather common view point.

19 posted on 06/18/2012 7:49:08 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Migrating elephant herds react badly to flaming motor homes and dry ice doesn't repel killer bees)
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To: SunkenCiv

20 posted on 06/18/2012 7:49:44 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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