Perfect poulet
Spring has arrived in the French countryside. Neon bright leaf buds sunlit against dark grey thunderheads, tender green grass growing like a lush carpet, fields striped with yellow rape. In April, weeks of rain had swollen the Saône river, a tributary of the Rhône. We drove across the bridge at Chalon-sur-Saône, into the flat alluvial plain of Bresse. Hamlets of low timber-and-brick farmhouses huddled in the downpour; low-lying fields had become swamped, turning them into mud lakes. In the fields, white chickens—the famous Poulet de Bresse—pecked at worms. Poulet de Bresse are distinguished by being the only chickens in France to have their own appellation d’origine contrôllé. They have white feathers, blue legs and red combs making them practically the emblem of the French Republic. According to the strict criteria of their premium label, each bird must be raised in an open field with at least 10m2 of space, fed on cereal grown only in the Bresse region and be fattened in crates for their last two weeks.