Good Food: Chicken That Tastes Good

I thought that I had grown to dislike chicken. The taste is never what I remember, the meat is fatty and frankly flavorless. No matter how I prepare it or what brand I buy, it is just not good. I’d concluded that I just didn’t like the taste of it anymore until I went on vacation with my family to the Dominican Republic.

At the snack bar, I ordered chicken. It seemed like an easy choice. What came was a precooked leg and thigh that were reheated on the grill for my order. I was hungry and glad to get something that seemed like it would be nourishing.

I took one bite and could hardly believe the taste. The skin was crisp and the meat was moist yet firm. It was not fatty at all! With that one bite, all the memories of chicken came tumbling back. This was the taste of chicken I remembered!

I blurted out, to my family, you guys, you have to try this! Their reaction was like mine, that this was good chicken. It certainly wasn’t the way they cooked it that made it so good. It was the poultry itself that was good. I had the feeling that I was eating a good, old-fashioned chicken; the kind we used to eat. What happened to them? Where did they disappear to?

I can’t help wondering if, in an attempt to improve chicken, to make it better and more cost-effective, we had altered it so much that it no longer tasted good?

I’ve tried all types of chicken, free-range, organic, grain-fed, etc. They have all been disappointing. I’m not certain why that is, but now that I know for certain that I still love poultry I am determined to find good chicken. There must be a company that still produces chicken that tastes the way they used to. My search is on!

Have you found good-tasting chicken? Is it still available in other parts of the country? And by the way – does anyone know for sure why the Dominican Republic chickens are so good? I’d love to know.