Eggs, Poultry & Game

During the past fifty years, the poultry business has undergone a kind of industrial revolution and vast numbers of birds are now kept in huge sheds, often in terrible conditions. This has meant that free-range chickens are once again in demand, although both they and their eggs naturally cost more to buy.

In many areas of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna - and here and there all over the South - there are still, however, free-range farms producing the tastiest corn-fed chickens. The poor quality of mass-produced poultry also means that any Italian who can afford it still usually keeps domestic animals of their own. When I was growing up in Borgofranco D’lvrea, this was then quite common and my family was able to keep a few chickens, some ducks, some rabbits and a goat, so that we had milk every day, a couple of eggs and, from time to time, the meat of one of the animals or fowl.