Reconstituted

at 1:41 pm on January 22, 2009 under Jan: Vegan/Refined Sugar/Corn Syrup Free | 4 Comments

manamana + stainless_steel_meat_grinder = chickendelicious1

This image courtesy my S.O. Can you guess what it is?

Technically it is chicken. Reconstituted.

This is what they make Chicken McNuggets out of apparently. It looks creepy. It sounds creepy. It feels creepy. And it’s not just because it looks like what would happen if someone put those “Manna Manna” muppets through a sausage grinder.

But why should this gross anyone out? Why is there such a bias for all things pure and fresh? Is there evidence that reconsituted chicken (or any other product for that matter) is more likely to be infected with bacteria, less nutritious, or more potentially unhealthy?

I’m not saying I’d be likely to eat these, even if I was off my vegan diet. I’m as prone to the fresh bias as anyone. But it is not because that picture disgusts me. It doesn’t surprise me in fact. If it makes it easier to produce, preserve, and deliver the food then of course they’re going to do it.

Part of the aversion may be the intentional whitewashing of the product in name. It isn’t “Chicken” in the sense we think of it. It is actually “Chicken Product” in the same way Velveeta is not cheese but “Cheese Product”. The realization that what you think you have been eating for years is not the same as the conjured image is a startling one. It’s probably akin to what Charlton Heston felt in “Soylent Green”. (”It’s made from PEOPLE! PEEEOOOPLE!!!”)

But I am sure there is a rationality behind avoiding reconstituted chicken, too, beyond the vegan/vegetarian moral rationality. I’d be interested to entertain your thoughts.

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  • Kristen said,

    I don’t care what it looks like before it becomes the nugget. It’s still made from 100% White Meat Chicken. Having worked for a Corporate Store (read as: had to take a shower and wash my hair every day after work, and still smelled of the fryer), I had to learn eveything there was to know at the time about any given product. Or at least wheere to find such information.

    You’d be amazed at some of the questions people ask of a DT Cashier as they are paying for their order. Not to mention what they ask at the Front Window as they are getting their order, what they ask the staff at the Front Counter, the people doing maintenance and clean-up around the lobby,and what they holler back into the Grill to ask of those folks.

    For a while after I left, I had nightmares about it. About the questions, and the monotony of them. It was always the same people, asking the same questions, and that fact invaded my sleep for over a year.

    By the way, your third pic isn’t showing, and a McNugget is NOT Chicken Product. I don’t even really think that one could truly describe it as “reconstituted chicken”. It would take me forever to truly explain it. It certainly isn’t what most people think of when they think “Chicken”, a point you are absolutely correct about.

    But, hun, Velveeta really isn’t a good analogy on this one, IMO. Although you could compare it to the 100% Beef used in the Arches hamburger patties.

  • Jillian C. York said,

    Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I’m a vegetarian again.

  • Kristen said,

    Fact is, “reconstructed” would be a better word for what a McNugget is. However, McD’s really does use 100% Beef and 100% Chicken for their food. And there’s nothing wrong with any of it.

  • Lexie said,

    Before I read that I was like, “Ooh, that looks good. Is that salt water taffy?” No it is not. And now salt water taffy and chicken are both ruined for me which means I’ll never be able to eat chicken a la taffy ever again. Thanks a lot.

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