‘Caviar’ goes for paltry prices

In the space of a generation, chicken has undergone a transformation: From a treat meal to a weeknight staple for many families.

Ninety-five per cent of New Zealand households now purchase fresh chicken in the course of a year, and 65 per cent buy fresh.

A spokeswoman for supermarket chain Countdown said it had become the country’s most popular meat in the past four years because it was an affordable source of protein, and a versatile meal option.

‘‘Fresh poultry continues to grow faster than alternatives like beef, lamb and pork.’’

And while the cost of those other meats has increased, the price of chicken has fallen dramatically in real terms.

In 1989, the cost of a number eight frozen chicken in nominal terms was $7.69. Now, we pay about $7.62.

Food inflation over that same period of time is about 195 per cent – so the cost of chicken in real terms is about half what it was in the 1980s.

By comparison, the price of a kilogram of blade steak has increased from $8.71 to $18.08 over the same time, a kilogram of porterhouse steak has gone from $12.85 to $29.10, mince is up from $6.17 to $13.97 and the price of fish has risen from $14.31 to $32.29.

Economist Gareth Kiernan, of Infometrics, said intensive farming practices were responsible for bringing the cost of chicken down compared to other meats.

‘‘Although there is now some pushback against these practices

Economist Gareth Kiernan

from due to animal welfare concerns,’’ he said.

‘‘My grandmother used to have a Sunday roast, which was typically beef or lamb. However, if it was someone’s birthday, they used to have a roast chicken as a special treat – a practice that persisted into the 1990s or 2000s even though the roles should have been reversed given the price of beef or lamb.’’

Food historian Dave Veart remembers asking for chicken for a birthday meal as being ‘‘akin to asking for caviar’’. Desexed roosters called capons used to be popular but were ordered weeks in advance.

Over time, chicken became a more common sight on shop shelves, initially in frozen portions and then increasingly as ‘‘flash restaurant food’’, such as Chicken Maryland.

It was not until the 1960s that advertisements for Tegel started to appear in cookbooks.

‘‘There’d be a photo of a woman with enormous hair and a tiny chicken. The chickens were really scrawny-looking compared to the ones you buy today. That’s a product of our changed animal husbandry . . . [chickens] lend themselves to being manipulated.’’

The arrival of fast food operator Kentucky Fried Chicken in New Zealand in 1971 sealed the impression of chicken as ‘‘cheap’’, he said.

Chicken was also popular with New Zealand’s growing Pacific and Asian populations.

‘‘In places with big Pacific Island populations you tend to find local fried chicken places that even undercut KFC,’’ Veart said.

He expected the popularity of chicken to continue to grow as people moved away from red meat consumption.

Countdown said free-range poultry was the fastest-growing segment of the market.

The supermarket chain has announced a move to sell only free-range pork but is unlikely to follow suit with chicken because it is a much bigger market.

‘‘If it was someone’s birthday, they used to have a roast chicken as a special treat.’’