Labuyo is not chicken. So what is native chicken?
First of all don’t tell me the only pure native chicken is the Labuyo or the Red Jungle Fowl. Certainly no because, if indeed labuyo is the red jungle fowl then, it is not a chicken but a jungle fowl. It is the species Gallus gallus. While chicken is its sub species Gallus gallus domesticus.
For our purpose native could mean: the indigenous inhabitants of a place. Or introduced to a place and inhabited the place for a long period of time.
In some dictionaries it could also mean: born in a particular place. But to us this definition should not apply to native chicken. The hybrids with foreign breeds, the imported breeds, regardless hatched here in the Philippines cannot be called Philippine native chicken.
A native chicken is a native to a place. Yes. But native in this case also has another meaning, like ‘naked’ or ‘bare.’ Native chicken is unaltered or not genetically modified, not even by specific purpose breeding. A native chicken should be a natural chicken which is inherently and essentially a multi-purpose fowl.
Native chicken is a chicken unaltered in appearance and purpose. A native chicken should look like chicken. It should pack flavor like the good old chickens. And, in the first place, could fight well and basically game like all chickens were at the onset.
For example, the oversized Cornish X broilers, although they came from Indian Game, don’t look like chicken anymore as they look like inflated air bags with feathers. The broilers don’t taste like the old good chicken as, without lots of seasoning and a good chef, they taste like air. Definitely broilers can’t fight, they can hardly stand, let alone fly and kick. These broilers are never native to any place. They are manufactured in so-called chicken factories in many different places in the world.
Therefore, broilers can never be native chicken, even if free ranged or pastured here in the Philippines or elsewhere on planet Earth.
The RBS Habagat, on the other hand, looks like chicken, tastes like chicken and fights like chicken. It is made in the Philippines by Filipinos and it is inhabitant of the Philippines.
Likewise the AG looks like chicken, tastes like chicken and fights like chicken. It is made in the America by Americans and it is inhabitant of America. So both could qualify as native chicken.”
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