Chicken/Fowl

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. The chickens sitting in most supermarkets today come from the Red Jungle Fowl aka Gallus gallus in the Phasiandae family, and are native to the large area of Eurasia which comprises several European and Asian countries like India, Thailand, China, and Russia. You can learn more about chicken’s culinary and agricultural journeys in our chicken profile!