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Hugh's Chicken Run
Channel 4 did well with Jamie's School Dinners a few years back, by adding a campaigning tint on the traditional cook show. Well, they're at it again with a series involving St Jamie again, along with Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal. Hugh was first to kick-off with his three parter on modern chicken farming.
In my time, I have worked on factory-farms producing eggs and table chickens (broilers), so I was interested to see how this show turned out. I've always said that if anyone with half a brain did a TV show about broiler production, they could put a serious dent in the supermarket chicken industry. It's not just that the practice can be seen as immoral and even cruel, but that it produces crap chicken. Unfortunately, when people approach this subject it's all too often done in an ill-informed way.
Hugh F-W is perhaps the man to change the market. He's intelligent, well informed and a keen small holder who understands how to rear free-range birds albeit on a small scale. Last night's show did not disappoint - but it still has a long way to go.
I don't know how the show will turn out (9pm Tuesday 8th, Wednesday 9th), though I can take a guess. Hugh has set-up a broiler farm on a big scale for him, but still a very small scale for the industry, and - even though at this stage - his chicks are quite small, he's getting pretty depressed by the results. Let's wait and see what happens.
One thing that I would point out from the show is an issue he had with the 'drinkers' - the small cups that provide the birds with water. He bought a set of second-hand drinkers from somewhere and when they arrived he was disgusted by their lack of cleanliness. I don't know where he got them from, but I'll bet it wasn't one of the big producers. In my experience, cleanliness is very important to the big broiler production companies. Between each crop, the sheds (much bigger than Hugh's!) are thoroughly washed down with power washers and disinfected. A production company simply cannot afford to lose a crop through cross-contamination. I was very surprised to see such filthy drinkers.
The aspect that I'm looking forward to most in this show is the reaction of the supermarkets. The state of the industry is, essentially, their fault. When the biggest producers in the country can make as little as 1p per bird profit (not unusual), you start to realise the stranglehold the supermarkets have on farmers, and the lengths producers will go to to cut costs. I for one have rarely seen a poultry farmer as well dressed as Hugh's stockman...
If anyone else saw the show last night, I'd be interested to hear your views.
I managed to miss it last night but hope to see the next one. Why don't
you e-mail Hugh with your observations, especially since you have
first-hand knowledge of the industry? I'm sure he'd be glad of your
in-put.
I might just do that... he struggled to find anyone from the industry who'd
help him out as a stockman - I wish I'd known in advance, as I know someone
who's recently retired from it who would have helped!
I thought the programme was a great idea, people do need to know what goes
on and from conversations today with others who saw it, a surprising amount
of people don't. but to be honest, and I'm going to watch again tonight in
the hope of an improvement, I thought last night's programme didn't really
say too much at all.. The 'Grand Designs' style shooting of building the
run was nothing to do with it really? Why not have it built then start the
programme? there are awful barbaric things people need to see.. I know
shock tactics don't work but I was left frustrated at an opportunity wasted
last night.
Thanks for the comment Katysays - how did you feel about the second
installment?
I agree to an extent that the programme suffered a little from
bloat - there seems to be a Channel 4 thing with all their factual shows -
after every commercial break we have to have a recap on what went on before
as we couldn't possibly remember anything following three minutes of ads...
Perhaps two editions at an hour each might have been better than three -
we'll see what happens in the concluding episode tonight.
I've now watched the first two episodes and things have definitely improved
in part 2. Having Jamie arrive and put his self-assured stamp of approval
on things certainly helped.
Thanks for the comment, Mike
I do kind of agree with the thing about Hugh's persona - I think it's
something he's aware of, and I thought it quite interesting that they left
in quite a few negative comments about him. If you look at other TV chefs,
you get the feeling that the whole world loves them - I'm not sure everyone
in Padstow loves Rick Stein for example... I've always been taken by Hugh
F-W's honesty.
I thought Jamie's show went that much further, with the despatching of the
cock chicks and the slaughtering of the adult bird. How did you feel about
it?
I didn't see Jamie's offering on Friday, I'm afraid so can't comment on
that.
I'm preparing a follow-up post to this one in which I hope to
incorporate some of the feedback I've received and that I've found
elsewhere on the web. More soon...
Dear Richard, I visited Sainsbury's today and guess what is left on the
shelves. Got it in one. Hugh F-W seems to have done the trick. I hope it
lasts.
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