Hugh's Chicken Run
Encyclopedia
Hugh's Chicken Run was a programme as part of Channel 4
's 'Food Fight' series in which celebrity chef
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
launched the campaign to encourage more consumers to demand free range
chicken. Hugh was joined on the campaign by fellow celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver
, who chose to highlight the issues in the more graphic Jamie's Fowl Dinners.
In the series Hugh set about the highlighting the differences in standards by creating his own intensive and free range chicken farms, as well as mentoring a community project in Axminster
.
Hugh heralded the campaign a success when he managed to get to the point where the majority of the whole fresh chicken consumed in the town of Axminster
was free range. Since then the campaign has gone countrywide with 128,000 viewers having pledged on the campaign website to only buy free range products. The show has been linked with the large rise in free range products, as well as the drop in demand for intensively reared products during January and February 2008. A poll carried out for the RSPCA, 73% of adults claim that they now only buy birds that have "higher welfare" conditions, such as the RSPCA's freedom food scheme, free range
or organic
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's 'Food Fight' series in which celebrity chef
Celebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Historically, celebrity chefs have included Antoine Carême and Martino da Como.-External...
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a British celebrity chef, television personality, journalist, food writer and "real food" campaigner, known for his back-to-basics philosophy...
launched the campaign to encourage more consumers to demand free range
Free range
thumb|250px|Free-range chickens being fed outdoors.Free range is a term which outside of the United States denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals are allowed to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner. In the United States, USDA regulations apply only to poultry and...
chicken. Hugh was joined on the campaign by fellow celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver
James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
, who chose to highlight the issues in the more graphic Jamie's Fowl Dinners.
In the series Hugh set about the highlighting the differences in standards by creating his own intensive and free range chicken farms, as well as mentoring a community project in Axminster
Axminster
Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of Devon in England. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. It has a population of 5,626. The market is still...
.
Hugh heralded the campaign a success when he managed to get to the point where the majority of the whole fresh chicken consumed in the town of Axminster
Axminster
Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of Devon in England. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. It has a population of 5,626. The market is still...
was free range. Since then the campaign has gone countrywide with 128,000 viewers having pledged on the campaign website to only buy free range products. The show has been linked with the large rise in free range products, as well as the drop in demand for intensively reared products during January and February 2008. A poll carried out for the RSPCA, 73% of adults claim that they now only buy birds that have "higher welfare" conditions, such as the RSPCA's freedom food scheme, free range
Free range
thumb|250px|Free-range chickens being fed outdoors.Free range is a term which outside of the United States denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals are allowed to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner. In the United States, USDA regulations apply only to poultry and...
or organic
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...