Food

The Brainless Chicken

Here's a sequel to the shmeat post from the other day. Evidently scientists are developing chickens without brains so when they're grown for food, they'll be entirely clueless about what's happening to them.

I have no idea how to feel about this. While my food choices are based partly on health and partly on concern for the well-being of agricultural animals, it's likely I would actually eat this kind of chicken. I've always said that I would eat more animal products if they were humanely raised and their deaths were painless. Plus, I eat chicken anyway, even though I don't eat any pork or beef. So maybe.

But it's really too early to know what kind of chemicals they'd pump into a brainless chicken to keep it alive. The photo on Sullivan's site shows a chicken rigged up to tubes and suspended by a metallic rig, so it's very likely it's being injected with some kind of hormones or other awfulness. Ultimately, I think I'd rather eat an organic, humanely raised chicken over this Frankenchicken product.