I just came upon the program. Good on ya, Jamie - contrast this to Gordon Ramsay's effort at raising pigs in his own backyard! Makes me laugh, though. In the past every farmer fed a pig or two per year on all kinds of kitchen and farm waste, eventually it was slaughtered quickly and humanely, but within earshot of everybody, and then families got together for processing all of the pig into sausages, black puddings, brawn, ham, crackling and lard. Some cuts would be kept aside for smoking. At the end of the day the larder was full and good food would be shared, maybe even an accordeon would be brought out and the younger people would have a little dance.
Chickens? Every country kid knew how to catch and kill a chook fresh from the yard.
I buy mostly free-range chicken, it costs more, but the taste difference is huge. The trouble is that a generation and a half has grown up eating the chicken product from fast food outlets, getting their taste buds accustomed to a certain taste - and guess what, the fast food outlets will continue to buy the cheapest chicken they can get, because they're selling to this pre-conditioned public.
Free-range eggs are also superior. Thinking of keeping a chook or three in the backyard just for the eggs - fresh from the nest they're even better.
