The chicken breast. Genetically pushed, bred, modified, tweaked and forced into a reflection of all that is middle class midwestern sensibility. Giant, white, characterless, a vehicle for lost dreams. It’s an off brand, generic Barbie doll, dressed up and laded with accessories we ourselves would never be brave enough to wear. We simulate the adventures we could never have.
Boneless, skinless, featureless, magically appearing in styrofoam, gently laid on a bed of maxipad and wrapped in sterile plastic. It is the essence of safety, it will not challenge us. Slather it in salt, cook it until it is as dry and chalky as our rice cakes.
Mirroring our values, we find refuge in it. Is that a boneless, skinless chicken breast or is that my neighborhood? Uniform, featureless, sparsely flavored and holding no surprises. We reject the chicken thighs with their extra myoglobin and connective tissues, we reject the unexpected flavor and texture. The chicken thigh does not weakly submit, it is not eager to please us.
We put a premium on all that is dull and predictable, 100% white meat chicken attracts customers like popular name brand soda attracts wasps…W.A.S.P.S.
We can find the boneless, skinless chicken breast wherever we look. Television programming is essentially six or maybe 8 ideas constantly recycled. Sometimes they do not even bother to hide the fact that the meat is the same, it’s just a slightly different sauce day after day. How many ‘different’ versions of CSI are there? Law and Order? America’s Next Top…Model, Chef, Apprentice, Fashion Designer, D-Bag? We carry the chicken breast to the movies with us. We do not want or need new movies, just offer us uniformity in the form of remakes. Remake the movies, tv shows, cartoons of our youth. Neatly repackage our nostalgia, we’ll eat it up like so much processed cheese sauce.
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, Orkut….Chicken Caeser Salad, Fettucini Alfredo with Grilled Chicken, Chicken Fingers, Grilled Chicken Sandwich, Margharita Chicken, Fried Chicken.
We are what we eat.