Cuisine's Catered Curation

         Just a few catered moments           

The Japanese were not satisfied with ordinary beef and had to take it to greater heights with Kobe beef, a trademarked breed of Wagyu cattle, raised according to strict tradition only in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and considered a delicacy.  What they did for beef, the Japanese have also done for chicken, even though chicken was not even eaten in Japan until the 19th century. 

“Jidori” is a Japanese term usually translated as “chicken of the earth” or “from the ground” thanks to the birds' free range lifestyle.  Like Kobe beef and French champagne, jidori chicken is region specific, with the real thing coming only from the town of Hinai (now Odate) in the Akita region of Japan.  American grown versions are not technically jidori.  It is said that true Hinai-jidori chickens come from a “handful of farmers who raise the birds on pastures of clover, slaking their thirst with ‘thawing waters’ from the Ou Mountains,” and are fed vegetables, tomatoes and apples.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Jidori: the Kobe of chicken - Philadelphia Nutrition | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/article/jidori-the-kobe-of-chicken#ixzz1sqmbabVc