Topkok: 325 kr. for an organic chicken is not too much

It was the folk music trio Nordisk Dans that provided the musical backdrop when The Organic Stage opened on Friday at Food Festival in Aarhus. But it was the former Michelin chef and "Dancing with the Stars" participant, Dak Wichangoen, who played the first violin.

It almost seemed provocatively easy when she demonstrated how, in just a few minutes, she freed the 2.5 kg forest chicken from Gothenborg from the "overcoat" in the form of a good handful of skin and carved the chicken in a way that there should be food for several days in most households.

"The chicken almost tells me how I should do it," says the East Jutland chef as she almost playfully handles the meaty chicken in the Organic Association's tent at Tangkrogen in Aarhus.

It forms the framework for a series of debates, presentations, and small and large events for children and adults throughout the weekend, but "The Chicken Society" was part of Industry Friday, which in the morning was reserved for people working professionally with food.

"Sales of organic chickens are under pressure. Therefore, this year we are organizing a campaign to try to give the sales of organic chickens more wings," explains Anna Snog Folmann, who is project manager at the Organic Association, which had found an extremely dedicated fan of organic chickens in Dak Wichangoen.

Food is my playground

Dak Wichangoen came to Denmark at the age of seven, and since she trained as a chef in Silkeborg, she has tried her hand at many different disciplines in the culinary world. She worked for several years as head chef at Kiin Kiin in Nørrebro, which is the world's only Thai Michelin restaurant.

"For me, food is a bit of a playground, and today we are going to play with chicken," says Dak Wichangoen, who admits that this is the first time she has agreed to make four times 50 "chicken bites" based on meat from a quite large organic chicken.

"But it was actually easy once I had the chicken in front of me because there is so much meat on it, and it has so much flavor," says the chef, lifting the chicken from the table so everyone can see the noticeable difference between a meaty chicken that has lived for 80-90 days with access to open sky, and the cheap conventional barn chickens, which, in her opinion, take up far too much space in the country's refrigerated shelves.

"I usually say that when you have a raw material like this, which is a truly quality raw material, you really have to be a bad cook to mess it up," says the East Jutland chef, who encourages everyone to buy whole chickens instead of parts, as it is both cheaper and offers many more possibilities in the kitchen.

Animals should not be treated as objects

Many would probably consider the price of 325 DKK for Gothenborg's chicken to be high, but not Dak Wichangoen.

"The price shouldn't go down, but we need to get better at telling people what they are getting for their money," she says.

That is well known to Lars Hedegaard from Gothenborg. Together with his wife, he produces about 10,000 organic chickens annually, which, unlike their conventional counterparts, have access to large outdoor areas.

"We have moved to a place in animal production where animals have become a thing we keep to make food. That is completely wrong. We produce chickens in a way that brings them as close to their natural behavior as possible. That means under open sky," says Lars Hedegaard.

To avoid based on a breed that has strong legs so they can carry a weight of up to three kg, which they reach in 80-90 days.

We should use the meat as a spice

"The chickens at Gothenborg live in mobile henhouses close to the forest, where they can seek shelter, and they have access to large areas where they can graze and live off the insects and other things they find in the soil. But we probably haven't been good enough at telling consumers how we run our farm," he says during the chicken event.

Birgitte Jørgensen, marketing manager for organic products at the Organic Association, agrees, and in a brief overview of the market situation for organic chicken, she explains that organic chicken is challenged by lack of awareness, higher prices, and low visibility in both retail and foodservice, which has limited demand.

"Chicken is the protein of the future, but currently we have a gap in the market, and only 2.6% of the chickens sold in Denmark are organic," says Birgitte Jørgensen.

Studies show that it is mainly older people over 55 without children living at home who buy organic chicken, but the chicken campaign aims to change that so that organic chicken lands on more dinner tables.

"If we want more people to buy organic chicken, we need to learn to utilize the chicken better. I grew up with five chickens for 100 DKK, but we need to see the chicken differently, where the chicken meat is not the main component on the plate but more like a spice in the food. In this way, a single chicken can provide food for several meals, as Dak Wichangoen shows us here today," says Birgitte Jørgensen, before Rasmus Prehn, CEO of the Organic Association, closed the chicken event with a small celebratory speech, which ended:

"Chickens and hens may not be able to fly, but shouldn't we agree here today that we still want to give them some air under their wings? Let's raise our glasses and shout a big pip pip hurrah for good food, fat bugs, and more organic chickens under open sky."