The one thing I hear most from non-vegetarians is “I don’t really eat meat, I only eat chicken.” I have mixed feelings about this kind of statement. On the one hand any reduction in meat eating is a VERY good thing for the animals and for the environment. However, chickens happen to not be covered by the humane farming act (which provides very little protection to begin with) living their short lives in the most pathetically torturous conditions. In addition, something like 10 times the number of chickens are killed a year as compared to cows. So by “only eating chicken” you are in fact doing a lot more harm then good than if you “only eat cows”.
So Next time you want a chicken dish, substitute tempeh for the flesh of a chicken, and the Tempeh Piccata recipe for Veganomicon or Candle Cafe Cookbook. All you have to do is boil the tempeh in some water and soy sauce for 10 minutes, slice it thin, coat in flour, and fry or bake it till it is golden brown. Then just make a normal piccata sauce to go on top of it. The sauce pictured below has mushrooms and capers (love capers!).