Dear Fellow List Subscribers,
This discussion on chicken has been most interesting and got us here
on tiny Singapore talking it about as well (incidentally over a
chicken dinner!). Mr.Genheimer's response on relation to higher
socio-economic status struck a cord with us.
Albeit I have presently only anecdotes to share, but here are some
insights on Chinese practices which may be of interest in the
selection of choice chicken parts/cuts. Typically a conservative
Chinese household places great importance on the first born son and
often at meals the choice chicken parts would be reserved for him and
only him, to the extent the other members of family may be denied
any. To what extent the preference or reverence of the first born son
is still practice today, I am not too sure, but I recall at least
into the 1970s it is still common among the Chinese community in
Singapore. We have some friends who were obviously from much a higher
socio-economic status (their family owns a bank), but preferential
treatment in serving chicken to the eldest son was practiced and the
two younger siblings had none.
On the flip side, in our family (what Americans would consider middle
income), everyone gets serve the same part.....guess I am missing out
on the first born son privileges....
Warm Wishes,
Chen.
Fort Serapong Archaeological Project
Sentosa Island, Singapore.
[log in to unmask]
At 04:11 AM 8/31/2007, you wrote:
>I must say that none of this discussion has convinced me that
>chicken is the province of the wealthy or higher socio-economic
>status, or at least in any demonstrable and consistent
>fashion. There are simply too many variables to control for in
>these anecdotal comparisons. What was the availability of chicken
>and poultry in these various markets? How were decisions made based
>on self-raised vs. store bought? How representative are these
>features of the people who contributed to them and broader national
>trends in meat consumption? It is certainly possible that urban
>dwellers at the time who did not keep their own fowl might have
>weighed the choice between beef, pork, and bird, and simply chose a
>greater percentage of the first two. And, the rich widow with all
>the chicken bones, may have simply really liked chicken!
>
>What I would really like to see is a comprehensive study on the
>availability and comparative pricing of beef, pork, sheep, and bird
>from the last half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th
>century. I'm sure one of you will tell me it has been done!
>
>Bob Genheimer
>George Rieveschl Curator of Archaeology
>Cincinnati Museum Center
>1301 Western Avenue
>Cincinnati, Ohio 45203
>513-455-7161
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Wendy
>Nettles
>Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:36 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: poultry consumption
>
>
>Meli,
>
>I may have some information on poultry consumption that may be of help. We
>recently have completed two large urban archaeological data recovery
>projects in California. The first was in Sacramento, where we tested two
>city blocks (for those interested, between Q and R streets, 3rd through 5th
>streets). A total of 35 features were recovered, primarily privies and
>trash pits, with most deposition dates between 1891 and 1907 (There were a
>few earlier (1871) and later (1930s)). This was a residential neighborhood,
>very middle-class and cosmopolitan. We did faunal and macrobotanical
>dietary analysis and had some interesting results. Poultry, including
>chicken, goose, turkey, and duck, composed about 13% of faunal assemblage in
>two analytical units (both turn of the 20th century). The faunal assemblage
>from another feature in that project area, a wealthy widow's privy with a
>TPQ of 1873,was dominated by chicken (74%!!). We could only attribute this
>to her economic status.
>
>The other project was in downtown San Luis Obispo, CA. Feature associations
>in that project were a bit more varied, with faunal assemblages from a
>residence, a saloon/lunchroom, and a brothel. The faunal assemblage from
>the residence came from two discrete features, one dating to 1890, the other
>to 1904. In the earlier feature, poultry included chicken, quail, and
>turkey, comprising about 4% of the assemblage. In the later feature,
>poultry included chicken, quail, turkey, and duck, and comprised about 9.5%
>of the assemblage. Other meat cuts and artifacts in the features suggested
>that the resident's wealth increased through time, and he was purchasing
>better meat cuts and household items later in his life. We attributed the
>increase in chicken to an increase in wealth. In the saloon/lunchroom
>feature (1905), 8% of the assemblage was chicken. The brothel privy
>(1890)was dominated by chicken - 33%. The next highest percentage was beef
>at 22%. The brothel privy contained quite a variety of artifacts, and they
>were indicative of a large amount of income. Again, we attributed the
>presence of that much chicken was an economic indicator.
>
>These are very quick summaries of these projects. I would be glad to send
>you a copy of each report, but they are very large (even in pdf), so I would
>have to mail you a cd. If you think they may be helpful, just let me know
>and I can get them to you.
>
>You may also want to peruse the reports put out by the Anthropological
>Studies Center at Sonoma State University. Quite a few of their projects
>were in urban contexts from the late 19th and early 20th century. A list of
>publications is at http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/publications/index.html
>
>Wendy M. Nettles
>Staff Archaeologist
>Applied EarthWorks, Inc.
>5090 N. Fruit Ave.
>Suite 101
>Fresno, CA 93711
>(559) 229-1856 ext 13
>
>
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