In Pursuit of the 'Cosmopolitan Chicken'

The Mechelse Redcap crossbreed created by Koen Vanmechelen. (Credit: Koen Vanmechelen) Let us consider the humble chicken. Or, rather, consider a world without them. Gone are breakfast burritos at Sunday morning brunch, wings at your next tailgate, half the menu at an Italian restaurant, your grandma's precious soup recipe and nearly every fast-food chain out there. It's a bleak world, to be sure. Given the extent to which we rely on the nameless, faceless birds that gift us so many culinary delights, perhaps it's time we paid more attention to them. That's the insight behind the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, an artistic endeavor 20 years in the making. It's the brainchild of Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen, and it celebrates the wonder and power of the riotous diversity found in the myriad lineages of chickens the world over. Over the course of the past century or so, we have come to lean heavily on our feathered feasts, thanks to an unfortunate (for them) collection of assembly-line ready characteristics: they produce lots of offspring, mature quickly and require relatively little care. The end result is the ongoing explosion of the poultry industry. In 2010, there were around 20 billion chickens in the world, and in the poultry-loving United States, chickens outnumber people by more than six to one. In the U.S. alone, there were 277 million laying hens as of 2015, each producing an average of 280 eggs per year. And, although there are dozens of heirloom chicken breeds out there, we only come in contact with a few, at least in the U.S. Breeds like the Leghorn or the Cornish Cross dominate — their propensity to grow fast and big has endeared them to the chicken industry. We are but one nation in a world of chicken lovers, however, and cultures across the globe possess their own distinct breeds of fowl. The Bresse chicken in France, white with a red cap and blue legs bears an uncanny similarity to the French flag, while the fluffy Chinese Silkie recalls that country's historic export. As for us, well, America just seems to like having the biggest chicken around.