Meet the bigfoot chicken on Vietnam dining tables
Known for their strangely large feet, Dong Tao chicken has for generations been a delicacy in Vietnam and mostly consumed during the Lunar New Year.
The rare breed of poultry, also known as dragon chicken, features a pair of scaly red feet as large as a beer can, and originates from Dong Tao, a village 30km southeast of Hanoi.
Dong Tao chicken, weighing up to 6kg when fully grown and once reserved only for royals, are believed to bring good fortune and wealth.
Today, demand for Dong Tao chicken, whose meat has a crunchy texture, a distinct fragrant aroma and a rich flavour, has risen sharply, backed by a growing number of wealthy people in one of Asia’s fastestgrowing economies.
“A fully-grown dragon chicken of at least one year old farmed in Dong Tao village is sold for up to five-million dong [R3,888] or sometimes even 10million dong [R7,776],” Le Trong Dung, a chicken farmer in the village, said.
Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung, a local chicken farmer, said the most valuable parts of the chicken were its legs.
Loc Duc Toan, a 25-year-old chef in Hanoi, said a Dong Tao chicken had its best taste at the age of 13 to 15 months.
“When steamed, the skin will be crispy with a fragrant aroma of its own and a sweeter meat compared to other chickens,” Toan said.
The chickens are now also raised beyond the village, offering a chance for a wider range of consumers, but local agriculture official Phan van Hieu said those raised in the village and fed purely with paddy rice and corn have the best taste.
“Production hasn’t met domestic demand yet,” Hieu said.
“You won’t find it in any KFC restaurants in the foreseeable future. ”—