{"id":3839,"date":"2015-02-21T19:27:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-22T00:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/?p=3839"},"modified":"2024-12-21T12:25:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T17:25:39","slug":"the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3841\" style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3841\" class=\"wp-image-3841 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/red-fowl.jpg\" alt=\"red-fowl\" width=\"750\" height=\"400\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-3841\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A red jungle fowl, the predecessor of modern chickens, in Thailand. Photograph by Christian Zappel, Westend61\/Corbis<\/p><\/div>\n<p>by Simon Worrall<\/p>\n<p>For most of us, the word &#8220;chicken&#8221; spells a cold, clammy slab of plastic-wrapped white meat plucked out of the refrigerated section of our local supermarket. But in the ancient world, and in many cultures today, chickens had deep religious and social significance.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking from his home in North Carolina, Andrew Lawler, author of<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/books\/\"> <em>Why Did the Chicken Cross the World: The Epic Saga of the Bird That Powers Civilization<\/em><\/a> describes how fried chicken has its origins in West Africa, why the Puritans tried to ban the word &#8220;cock,&#8221; and how the backyard chicken movement is bringing roosters to towns and cities all over America.<\/p>\n<p>[su_spacer]<\/p>\n<p>[su_button url=&#8221;http:\/\/news.nationalgeographic.com\/news\/2014\/12\/141221-chickens-civilization-avian-flu-locavore-turkey-ngfood-booktalk\/&#8221; style=&#8221;flat&#8221; background=&#8221;#9c0f18&#8243; size=&#8221;10&#8243; radius=&#8221;0&#8243;]Read the full interview on National Geographic[\/su_button]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Simon Worrall For most of us, the word &#8220;chicken&#8221;  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[53,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","category-other"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World &#8226; Andrew Lawler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Simon Worrall For most of us, the word &quot;chicken&quot; spells a cold, clammy slab of plastic-wrapped white meat plucked out of the refrigerated section of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World &#8226; Andrew Lawler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Simon Worrall For most of us, the word &quot;chicken&quot; spells a cold, clammy slab of plastic-wrapped white meat plucked out of the refrigerated section of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Andrew Lawler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-22T00:27:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-21T17:25:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/red-fowl.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AndrewLawler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AndrewLawler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"AndrewLawler\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022\"},\"headline\":\"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-22T00:27:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-21T17:25:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":169,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/red-fowl.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interviews\",\"Other\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/\",\"name\":\"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World &#8226; Andrew Lawler\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/red-fowl.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-22T00:27:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-21T17:25:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"by Simon Worrall For most of us, the word \\\"chicken\\\" spells a cold, clammy slab of plastic-wrapped white meat plucked out of the refrigerated section of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/red-fowl.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/red-fowl.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Andrew Lawler\",\"description\":\"Andrew Lawler is author of four books\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022\",\"name\":\"AndrewLawler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/content\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/content\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/content\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"AndrewLawler\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\\\/content\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg\"},\"description\":\"Andrew Lawler is author of three books, Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World\u2019s Most Contested City, The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, a national bestseller, and Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization. As a journalist, he has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles from more than two dozen countries. His byline has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and many others. He is contributing writer for Science and contributing editor for Archaeology. Andrew\u2019s work has appeared several times in The Best of Science and Nature Writing.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.andrewlawler.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AndrewLawlerAuthor\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/andrew-lawler-9b5a064a\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/LawlerAndrew\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCsliIwdDC_wPYE01Se2zzAw\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World &#8226; Andrew Lawler","description":"by Simon Worrall For most of us, the word \"chicken\" spells a cold, clammy slab of plastic-wrapped white meat plucked out of the refrigerated section of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World &#8226; Andrew Lawler","og_description":"by Simon Worrall For most of us, the word \"chicken\" spells a cold, clammy slab of plastic-wrapped white meat plucked out of the refrigerated section of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/","og_site_name":"Andrew Lawler","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor","article_published_time":"2015-02-22T00:27:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-21T17:25:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/red-fowl.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"AndrewLawler","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"AndrewLawler","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/"},"author":{"name":"AndrewLawler","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022"},"headline":"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World","datePublished":"2015-02-22T00:27:42+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-21T17:25:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/"},"wordCount":169,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/red-fowl.jpg","articleSection":["Interviews","Other"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/","url":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/","name":"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World &#8226; Andrew Lawler","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/red-fowl.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-22T00:27:42+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-21T17:25:39+00:00","description":"by Simon Worrall For most of us, the word \"chicken\" spells a cold, clammy slab of plastic-wrapped white meat plucked out of the refrigerated section of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/red-fowl.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/red-fowl.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/the-surprising-ways-that-chickens-changed-the-world\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"National Geographic: The Surprising Ways That Chickens Changed the World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/","name":"Andrew Lawler","description":"Andrew Lawler is author of four books","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbc9a5140b6f2e4922d45f0726e70022","name":"AndrewLawler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"caption":"AndrewLawler"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ST-LawlerJacketPic-1x1.jpg"},"description":"Andrew Lawler is author of three books, Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World\u2019s Most Contested City, The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, a national bestseller, and Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization. As a journalist, he has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles from more than two dozen countries. His byline has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and many others. He is contributing writer for Science and contributing editor for Archaeology. Andrew\u2019s work has appeared several times in The Best of Science and Nature Writing.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AndrewLawlerAuthor","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/andrew-lawler-9b5a064a\/","https:\/\/x.com\/LawlerAndrew","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsliIwdDC_wPYE01Se2zzAw"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18692,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839\/revisions\/18692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewlawler.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}