Fowl Play: Poultry Through Ages
Tarun Shridhar, Former Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India
Isn’t it unbelievable that today’s docile and submissive poultry fowl kept in coops and cages is the closest living relative of the oldest, most famous and ferocious carnivorous giant, the Tynnosaurus Rex or T-Rex as it is popularly called? Genetic evidence suggests that about 55 million years after the last T-Rex lorded over the earth emerged from the evolutionary pool the creature that would bear some resemblance to today’s chicken. 10 million years have since gone by since the chicken attained its present colourful form but a few species of its wild progenitors still roam around in the jungles.
When and where did the fowl first get domesticated? There are many claimants and several theories placing the origin from China to Thailand to South America. However, the only reasonably conclusive evidence drawing strength from the studies of the most famous naturalist of all times, Charles Darwin, puts the origin of the domestic fowl in the Indian subcontinent, more specifically the Indus Valley around 7000-8000 BC. Excluding wild dog, chicken enjoys the distinction of being one of the first animals to be domesticated. An early study of mitochondrial DNA suggests that its immediate predecessor was the Red Jungle Fowl, Gallus gallus, now classified as Gallus domesticus. And now the millennia of domestication has resulted in a bird which is able to breed and lay eggs all year round, a rare trait in the animal kingdom. This makes chicken the most valued domestic animal in all parts of the world.
A further mystery shrouds the spread of this shy forest bird across the globe. After all, never in its history has the jungle fowl been migratory and a singular distinctive characteristic of this bird is its inability to fly long distances. So how come it soon reached diverse and distant parts of the world? Historical evidence links this phenomenon to the movement of people. Human migration, cultural contacts, trade, territorial conquest are some of the factors accelerating this movement of the fowl; Indus Valley, however, remained the initial ground zero of this global journey through Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, Egypt etc.
It would be quite some years and a circuitous journey before the domesticated fowl becomes a part of the human food menu. The earliest motivation to domesticate the wild fowl was the sport of cockfighting which was widely prevalent and popular in different civilisations. It slowly graduated to symbolic and ceremonial roles in various religious and cultural beliefs. It would surprise many to learn that the food on our plate has once been a revered symbol, a religious and spiritual creature inspiring mankind far and wide. Ancient Greeks believed that the spirit of the rooster symbolised victory over darkness, manifested by its screeching cry saluting the sun in the morning. It was symbolic of discipline and honesty in the ancient Chinese culture. Jewish legends associate courtesy with chicken, in the Bible it gets referred to as symbolic of eternal vigil and warding off the evil spirits. The rooster is symbolic of non-material desires in Buddhism while it is considered to be a benign spirit in Zoroastrianism. For Egyptians chicken was a symbol of nurturance and fertility, and Romans swore by its fortune-telling prowess, especially when it came to predicting the outcome of war. Hinduism too is replete with symbolism associated with the rooster; it adorns Lord Murugan’s flag, as it does Shikhandi’s in Mahabharata heralding the dawn of wisdom and conquest of forces of ignorance. It is the vahana of goddess Aditi depicting strength and honour.
An article titled “How the Chicken Conquered the World” by Andrew Lawler, a Science writer and Jerry Adler, a journalist recounts a very interesting legend of the 5th century BC. Athenian General Themistocles while leading the Greek army to confront the invading Persian forces came across two cocks fighting fiercely. He summoned his troops, who till then did not appear much motivated for the war, to watch this cockfight. Addressing these troops, the General said, “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 spectacle of cockfight and its message delivered by their leader inspired the Greeks who fought valiantly to repel the invaders thus putting a halt to the westward expansionism of Persia. What a supreme irony that the creatures who saved the civilisation are honoured by breading, roasting, baking, frying and then savouring with the choicest of sauces and accompaniments; and this happens across multiple cultural boundaries as chicken has become the most ubiquitous animal food of our era.
The early evidences of scientific management of poultry are the Egyptians who created and mastered the technique of artificial incubation of eggs about 3000 years ago. This also constitutes the early known interventions for enhancing productivity; hens could use the incubation time to lay more eggs, as they put it. Some evidence, though non-conclusive, of selective breeding of birds exists in ancient Rome. However, during these olden times chicken consumption remained an item of delicacy and luxury. In fact, a law was passed in Rome in 161 BC limiting the consumption to one bird per meal per table. The trigger for such a law was growing social concern about “moral decay and excessive luxury.”
Though chicken enjoys fame as the oldest domesticated bird, yet the present day poultry, including selective breeding, started taking shape only during the 19th century; till then it was not considered a necessary livestock. Upto the early decades of the 20th century, poultry was characterised by small family farms raising chickens, fed on forage and occasional grains, primarily for meat. Housing was, by and large, open and non-specific. Advent of the commercial broiler industry is traced to the year 1926 when one Wilmer Steele of Delaware USA managed to successfully raise 500 birds only for meat. This led to the establishment of a broiler house of 10,000 birds. Thus began confined housing, cage systems, improved layers et.al. Most importantly, the rate of mortality which so far had been as high as 40% dropped down dramatically to 5%. Since the size of chickens is comparatively smaller, they quickly gained importance and wide adoption in livestock farming spurring supporting activities such as hatcheries and feed manufacturing units.
Subsequent years saw chicken graduating from a luxury food to a regular staple in many parts. The science and technology of refrigeration saw a marked improvement in the 1950s leading to an exponential demand of both home and commercial refrigerators. This development was a boon to poultry. Surging demand created intensive production practices, and this also necessitated according prominence to poultry health and disease management. Another welcome offshoot was the mechanisation of the meat industry. It has been an upward journey since then, having evolved from a fragmented local commercial activity to a highly efficient vertically integrated business, nationwide and internationally. The most significant and continuing achievement has been the genetic improvement of the humble descendant of T-Rex, which at 80% is now the most populous farm animal constituting 23.7 billion of a population of 30 billion, and needless to say the top selling meat since 1992.
Curiously, the humble fowl aka chicken, besides culinary pre-eminence, retains its cultural symbolism. Motivational author and speaker Jack Canfield has captured not only the imagination of millions of people but also earned dollars in millions, if not billion, by making chicken a metaphor for psychological comfort through his series Chicken Soup for the Soul. Social Market Foundation is a highly respected cross party British think tank. In the year 2001 the then Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom Robin Cook addressed them, and this speech has gone down the history as the “chicken tikka masala speech.” Choosing this most popular cuisine amongst the Britons to symbolise his nation’s commitment to multiculturalism, Cook said that it was “a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences. Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish. The masala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of the British people to have their meat served in gravy.” Even a marinated and grilled on a skewer chicken is projected as a mascot of globalisation. Its infiltration of Caesar’s salad and inroads into Turkey sandwich would further buttress Robin Cook’s sentiments and chicken’s unsung contribution to global harmony.
The question now before us should not be one of infinite regression, “which came first? Chicken or egg?”; but what would come next? Or better still what should we bring next?