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‘I think you’re going to die,” says a teenager bluntly to comedian Mo Gilligan when he tells her about his plan to eat only from chicken shops for one month. Spoiler: he lives. But after 84 fried chicken meals, Gilligan is heavier, unhealthier and starting to feel depressed. In this funny, slick and accessible Netflix documentary he takes on “Big Chicken”, the industrialised poultry farming industry. Flavouring doc-journalism with his brand of ultra-likable humour, he’s gen Z’s answer to Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock (who pulled a similar trick 20 years ago, eating nothing but McDonald’s for one month in his 2004 documentary Super Size Me).
At the start of the film, there is no guilt in Gilligan’s pleasure walking into a chicken shop (“Bring on the wings!”). Growing up in a low-income household in London, a bucket of KFC was a family treat. He’s even done voiceover work for a Nando’s advert; “It’s just chickens, right?”. What works so well in the film is that Gilligan’s shock as he digs deeper into the industry doesn’t look manufactured for the camera. The UK rears one billion chickens a year and, in Lincolnshire, Gilligan meets animal welfare activists in balaclavas (“This is like Call of Duty. I’m scared!”). He learns about the environmental harm to rivers that chicken farming causes, and explores racist ideas around black people and fried chicken.
In America, he investigates employment conditions in factories, workers denied toilet breaks forced to wear nappies. Back at his hotel, he bursts into tears; eating fried chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner isn’t helping his mood. Gilligan speaks to a psychologist who explains how ultra-processed foods hook us, making us feel great – and then comes the crash. You can see the difference in Gilligan, who is lethargic and grumpy. It might not kill him, but his chicken diet is doing harm.
The obvious objection to all this is that of course you’re not meant to eat fried chicken every day. But, as he finds out, half the calories in people’s diets in the UK come from ultra-processed foods and globally, there are now more obese children than hungry children. It’s probably fair to say Gilligan doesn’t uncover anything new in his film, but what he might succeed in is speaking to a new audience. At the very least it’s likely to encourage viewers to go cold chicken.
