Monica MC Learns How to Behead a Chicken.

I stood there, knife in hand, staring down at my victim. As we locked eyes, I could see that my participation in this execution was inevitable. We had to eat, after all. But I couldn't help feeling a nagging sense of guilt as it stared back at me, trying to communicate some frantic message, long silenced. It only took one great lunge with the knife to crack its neck in half. 

I did it. I beheaded a chicken.

So we were standing in Centro Supermercato last week, looking over the prepackaged cuts of meat in the freezer. It was late, so I was both ready to do some quick shopping and disappointed at the picked-over selection they had. I just needed some chicken for soup, so I picked the cheapest one. "Chicken is chicken, right?" I asked Danny.

After taking it home and laying it out to defrost, Felicia suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my God, is that an EYE?"

"No, no it's just a bone," I said without really examining it. Well it turns out I was wrong. I had unfortunately bought a chicken's head, neck, and torso without realizing it. The head was sliced in half long-ways, revealing the tongue, brain, and beak, while the chest still contained a ribcage and, as I found while carving it, heart. 

So now what to do? Let the meat go to waste? Eat out for dinner? I decided that the cost of 6 euro was enough to see what we could get out of it. And being from LA, I had no idea how to start the butchering.

So we gave a round of calls to every biology major and pre-med student we could find, and everyone was both amused and as unsure as we were. I just decided to get in there and strip away what I could, little by little. Well, the good part is that we got our chicken noodle soup made that night. Oh, and some pretty awesome photos too.

As I was trying not to stare the chicken directly in the eye I was thinking of how this relates to my current project. My theme is the difference between the "simple" country life and life in the big city, especially how we all have a lot to learn from each other no matter where or how we were raised. This week I'm working on a book for theme sequence class that explores this idea through storybook-style writing and illustration. I definitely felt that lack of farmer's knowledge when trying to butcher that chicken, and it's interesting for me to think of what situations I would be very comfortable in that might throw off someone who had grown up in the country. 

That being said, even with my limited experience I still think butchering's not really my thing. 

For some shots of some of my theme sequence artwork, go here.

 - Monica McClain