The Origin Of The 'Tastes Like Chicken' Cliche

We've heard it time and time again in our favorite books, movies, and TV shows: an adventurous eater consumes an exotic protein, only to excitedly proclaim that it "tastes like chicken!" Of course, the protein in question probably looks nothing like the poultry item we all know and love. But why exactly do non-chicken-like foods — such as alligator meat or certain types of mushroom — taste like chicken, and where did this ubiquitous cliché come from?

The answer is surprisingly complicated and boils down to the physical composition of chicken meat. Some of the most common cuts of chicken (like the breasts and wings) are considered white meat, meaning they're low in myoglobin, a protein that supplies muscles with oxygen needed for movement. Myoglobin gives meat a milder, slightly ironic taste and provides a darker color. Myoglobin is commonly found in higher amounts in red meats, hence why beef or lamb doesn't "taste like chicken."

A chicken's fat content is also responsible for its unique flavor profile, according to The Food Theorists. As chicken is exposed to heat while cooking, the meat's lipids, or fats, oxidize. In addition, the meat browns up thanks to a chemical reaction called the Maillard Reaction, which breaks down the proteins and natural sugars. When the chicken meat's oxidized lipids undergo the Maillard Reaction and the lipid oxidation, it creates a compound called 2-methyl-3-furanthiol. This is the main compound behind chicken's taste and can be found in other species of bird meat as well as a wide range of unexpected animals, such as frogs and iguanas, likely due to a shared ancestry with poultry.

It has been speculated that evolution could also play a role in the origin story of the "tastes like chicken" cliché. Chickens share a common ancestor with thousands of animals, such as lizards and reptiles, and it's theorized that across countless generations of evolution and adaptation, some of the physiological traits of this common ancestor have endured. While this theory could factor into the "tastes like chicken" phenomenon, food scientists believe that many animals' white meat's lean fat content and overall biological composition are what make them "taste like chicken." 

Another factor behind this trope is ease of access. Chicken is one of the most universally consumed white meats in the world, which means it's significantly more of a cultural reference point for taste than other white meats, such as alligator or frog. It can be assumed that most meat-eaters have eaten chicken at some point in their lives and are familiar enough with the meat's flavor composition to use it as a baseline when describing the taste of a rare protein to someone else. This is quite similar to how we use common reference points when describing an uncommon fruit. For example, we might describe an expensive fruit like mangosteen as having a flavor similar to pineapple or strawberry, as those are commonly consumed fruits of which many people would know the flavor.