My research informs me "city chicken" has been all around me since at least the great depression, (my parents era) but I have never heard the term until today.
But that may be partly because I grew up a country boy.
Thanks for trying this for us Tom. I may get adventurous and try it for myself but not today.
Where I am from a "city chicken"...was a pigeon You can eat those...but they probably taste like used cigarette butts and expectorated chewing gum...
So - I like Tom's city chicken MUCH better!
Actually, as a kid, my brother & I bought some pigeons and after a while we had so many that my father was having fits. (they were nesting in the barn)
We ate a lot of them & they were very good.
The secret is to eat them when they are very young, (squab)
I can remember my brother & I going out and shooting enough for dinner many times.
To have enough for a good meal for the six people in our family, we had to have about eight to ten birds.
We had a great time shooting them & then had a great meal.
Of course I also remember shooting a hole in the barn roof.