Before modern veterinary science, chickens had a lovely tendency to just die in any sort of large flock. So basically for most of American history, chicken was just this rare luxury food that maybe you'd have once a week. Over the course of the 20th century, firstly, veterinarians and breeders and farmers solved the fact that chickens would always die. They were kept in enclosed spaces that prevented the transfer of avian flus.
Americans love beef, and always have. But when it comes to the meat they actually choose to eat, chicken takes the crown. Bloomberg’s Matt Townsend and Leslie Patton join this episode to explain how poultry came to dominate the American diet. And historian Emelyn Rude shares what the past can tell us about where the industry goes from here.
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