Hi Meli,
I completed my MA thesis on faunal consumption in C19 New Zealand a few
years ago, which is a bit different from what you're looking at but I
thought you might be interested in the results. I looked at the faunal
material from a range of sites (military camps, hotels, and various
residential sites). Chicken bones turned up in small quantities at each
of the sites, but were more common at the hotel sites (and the range of
bird species present was greater at the hotel sites). In the faunal
analysis I've done subsequently, it seems to depend on which city/town
the material is from. As for fishbone, in spite of being an island
nation, most historic period sites that I've analysed the faunal
material from have few fish bones (although I've just been working on
assemblage from Wellington that has more fish bone than most).
Cheers,
Katharine
Meli Diamanti wrote:
> I'm looking for information on poultry consumption, or the chicken
> equivalent of "where's the beef?"
>
> I've seen comparisons of beef/motton/pork consumption between
> households or sites in historic faunal analyses, but where is the
> discussion of chicken? Was chicken not commonly consumed
> historically? I read that it really increased in relation to the
> shortages of meat during World War II (Wikipedia got this from a
> History Channel web page), but where can I find information on
> consumption before World War I?
> I'm working on analyzing domestic sites from the Pittsburgh,
> Pennsylvania area c. 1900-1920's. there is a wonderfully detailed
> study of butcher shops and meat consumption patterns in various
> Pittsburgh neighborhoods from 1932 (John Cover), but it does not
> include chicken or other poultry. Was poultry sold by separate shops?
> Was it sold along with farm produce from hucksters' wagons? Or what?
> We are finding some poultry bones in the faunal sample, but very
> little. So I'm wondering whether that was common for the time & place
> - to be eating so little chicken as opposed to beef/mutton/pork, or is
> it a reflection of status. None of these are wealthy hosueholds. But
> they are households of several different ethnic groups, so I thought
> the lack of chicken would not be common among them if it was a matter
> of ethnic food preferences.
> I see that poultry was first listed in the Federal Agricultural Census
> of 1880, and that poultry raising was not really successful as a
> business until c. 1900, but that is the period I'm looking at, so i
> would expect to see it. Was chicken more expensive or scarce, or a
> specialty item like fish? (Fish seems to be missing from my samples,
> even from a convent of parochial school teachers).
>
> I would appreciate any leads on this subject, either information on
> general historic trends in dietary change, or informaiton from
> specific sites or other sources. If you want to reply off list, I can
> be reached at [log in to unmask]
>
> Meli Diamanti
> Archaeological & Historical Consultants, Inc.
>
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