China has threatened to stop importing American chickens, according to a story in the New York Times. Poultry economist and consultant Paul Aho says they're bluffing. "We have these jumbo, juicy paws the Chinese really love," says Aho, apparently talking about chicken (paws?). "So I don't think they are going to cut us off."
Beijing's cleaver rattling comes in retaliation to president Obama's decision to tariff Chinese tires. And it is kind of a big deal, as China and Hong Kong buy $854.3 million of American chicken each year. Much of it wings and feet, which go for a few cents a pound in the U.S., but sell for 60 cents to 80 cents a pound over there. (Cha-ching!)
But Aho is confident that the Chinese taste for freakishly large American chicken feet will prove their government's strategic undoing. Reports the Times: "Mr. Aho said the big chicken feet result from the American preference for white chicken meat. A bird bred for big breasts is necessarily bred to have big, strong feet and legs, he said."
Also, birds genetically altered by the research and development departments of wonderful American corporations like Purdue, MacDonald's and KFC simply have more feet to export. Let's see China try to grow a chicken with twelve feet. Ain't gonna happen.
I can attest to Chinese chicken feet...those being available in the early 90s before America started sending our over... being the Rachel Zoe of chicken feet. Too much gnawing work to get at too little.
totally. bound feet style small. even dim-summily pressure cooked the knuckles weren't worth fiddling with. you know australians call dim sum, dim sim? losers.
I thought they called it yum cha? Which, anyway, means something like "drink tea." CliffsNotes: Still losers.
Wow. You ate the fancy ones. I just had the ones you get out the window at stops on the hard seat section of trains. They're air-sealed in plastic and in their own juices.
Chickety China the Chinese Chicken.
Off to breed a chicken with toddler-sized feet$!
if you are not currently in China, you may have difficulty finding a buyer :(
Bourdain is happily gnawing them on "No Reservations" which means Guy Fieri will be pushing them for TGIFridays sometime next year.
ooh I see you have thought this through. where do I invest?
"A bird bred for big breasts is necessarily bred to have big, strong feet and legs, he said."
Since when is R. Crumb raising chickens?
Getting a little Oryx and Crake in here...
Chickie Nubs! That's what I think every time I see a McNugget now.