Chicken Origins — Seeds & Receipts

The chickens most commonly known and cooked with today in North American and European countries are hugely different from their ancestors, and also not the same ones that were eaten by West Africans prior to the trans-atlantic slave trade.

Birds from Left to Right:

RED JUNGLE FOWL (Gallus Gallus, Phasiandae) - The chickens sitting in most supermarkets today come from the Red Jungle Fowl and are native to the large area of Eurasia which comprises several European and Asian countries like India, Thailand, China, and Russia.

Some sources say Red Jungle Fowls were first domesticated in Thailand around 7,500 B.C., while others say domestication happened later in 1,400 B.C. or somewhere in between those times. Whenever the Red Jungle Fowl was first domesticated, its descending species of chickens (Cornish and White Plymouth Rock fowls) would eventually be bred together in North America and European countries during the 1900s to become the big broiler chickens most Americans are familiar with eating.

GUINEA FOWL (Numida Meleagris, Numidae) - The Helmeted Guinea Hen or Guinea Fowl, is native to countries in the African savannas (e.g. Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal and many more) where it has been domesticated for thousands of years.* Fowl were significant in these countries for several dietary and spiritual reasons.

Spiritually chickens were used in West African religions to honor deceased relatives and friends as well as an offering to deities. Chickens were also important for celebrations, and would often be roasted or fried. Deep frying has its origins in Africa due to the common trade of ironsmithing being used to design deep iron pots.

WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK (from Phasiandae) - One of many types of chickens that are commonly bred in the U.S. with others to produce the large, rapidly maturing broiler birds we see manufactured by conventional corporations such as Perdue, Tyson and Koch Foods. To keep up with consumer interest in organic, local foods, these corporations now work very hard to market themselves as supporting small family farms to distract from facts like the Vanderwendes’ farm “producing approximately 750,000 birds annually” (from Perdue’s website).

*NOTE: Historians have yet to pinpoint an exact year/range for the domestication of guinea fowl, when they do, I’ll update this section with something more accurate. Of course if you have that resource, please share!

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