As is the case with most culinary traditions, Japanese dining makes good use of chicken. At Wild Wasabi’s Japanese restaurant in Lynnwood, you can find it in the form of our chicken teriyaki, our chicken katsu, our chicken curry udon, and much more. But where did the humble chicken come from, and how did it come to be the most widely-used poultry in the world?
The familiar chicken traces its family tree all the way back to 3,000 BC, when people in India first began to domesticate a bird known as the red junglefowl. Though it is thought that it was originally bred strictly as a fighting bird, its meat became popular for its neutral taste and easy availability. Over time it caught fire around the world, making its way into China in about 1,400 BC. From there it would spread to Japan along with much of the rest of China’s dining traditions.