{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "i was thinking about \"a chicken for every pot\" and like. why were they boiling chicken in the thirties, so often that it was the...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/680362922938138624/", "html": "

signipotens:

transgenderer:

raginrayguns:

transgenderer:

i was thinking about “a chicken for every pot” and like. why were they boiling chicken in the thirties, so often that it was the default way to cook it. was it just a poverty thing, like making broth or something to stretch it out? wouldnt that be the bones then? or did poor people not have ovens? or was it just like. a weird cultural thing

i feel like im supposed to know this cause i was reading The Domestic Revolution

i think… they did not have ovens? They had coal stoves? And you would put water on top of them

but why not have an oven

idkk

While it certainly wouldn\u2019t have been uncommon to boil chicken well into the 20th century in the US, especially if you lived in poorer or rural areas (or even today if you live in an Asian American community), the phrase \u201ca chicken in every pot\u201d as a byword for general welfare long preceded Hoover\u2019s 1928 campaign.

The original advert actually makes it clear that it isn\u2019t a campaign promise, or even something that Americans actually did:

Republican p r o s p e r i t y has reduced h o u r s and increased earning capacity, silenced discontent, put the proverbial \u201cchicken in every pot.\u201d And a car in every backyard, to boot.

The phrase was originally attributed to Henri IV of France by Hardouin de P\u00e9r\u00e9fixe de Beaumont in the latter\u2019s 1661 didactic biography Histoire du roy Henri le Grand, intended as an exemplar of royal behaviour for Hardouin\u2019s student and confessant Louis XIV. Today in France the phrase is associated with the dish poule au pot, which is a traditional chicken stew of sorts.

Le Duc [Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy], voyant un grand peuple, lui dit qu'il ne pouvait assez admirer la beaut\u00e9 et l'opulence de la France, et demanda \u00e0 sa Majest\u00e9 ce qu'elle lui valait de revenu. Ce Prince g\u00e9n\u00e9reux et prompt en ses r\u00e9parties lui r\u00e9pondit, \u00ab Elle me vaut ce que je veux \u00bb.

Le Duc trouvant cette r\u00e9ponse vague, le voulut presser de lui dire ce que la France lui valait. Le Roi r\u00e9pliqua, \u00ab Oui, ce que je veux, parce qu'ayant le coeur de mon peuple j'en aurai ce que je voudrai, et si Dieu me donne encore de la vie je ferai qu'il n'y aura point de laboureur en mon Royaume qui n'ait moyen d'avoir une poule dans son pot \u00bb : ajoutant, \u00ab et si je ne laisserai pas d'avoir de quoi entretenir des gens de guerre pour mettre \u00e0 la raison tous ceux qui choqueront mon autorit\u00e9. \u00bb

Le Duc ne r\u00e9partit plus rien et se le tint pour dit.

The Duke, seeing a great people, said to [Henri IV] that he could not sufficiently admire the beauty and opulence of France, and asked His Majesty what it was worth to him in income. The generous and quick-witted Prince [in the sense the foremost leader of an area, not the son of a monarch] responded: \u201cShe is worth what I want.\u201d

The Duke, finding this response vague, wished to urge him to say what France was worth to him. The King responded: \u201cYes, what I want, because having the heart of my people I will have what I want, and if God still gives me life I will make it so that there is not one plowman in my Kingdom who does not have the means to have a chicken in his pot,\u201d adding \u201cand if I will not fail to have what I need to support my men-at-arms in bringing to their senses all those who offend my authority.\u201d

The Duke had nothing else to retort, and accepted what he said with no comment.

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