Sarah Elton has an interesting piece over at The Atlantic about how a chicken's life actually changes the way the bird eventually tastes when we eat it:

It wasn't until recently that I tasted chicken for what it truly is: a delicate meat that has a sense of terroir, not unlike wine or olives or chocolate. The meat on your plate reflects the bird's life--its breed, what it was fed, how it lived, even the way it was loved (or not) by the farmer. Raising a good chicken, I've learned, is an art.

Check out the article for more ...