Lynn Lau/
Northern News Services

Inuvik (June 03/02) - For those unfamiliar with canned chickens, the label says it all: "One Whole Chicken with Chicken Broth."

Once a staple of Christmas hampers and picnic baskets, the canned chicken is now a disappearing breed in most parts of Canada.

Marie-Anick Elie keeps a can of chicken handy at her desk as a conversation piece. - Lynn Lau/NNSL photo

But here in the North, it still has a place, however inconspicuous, on grocery store shelves.

Food distributor W.H. Escott, in Winnipeg, possibly the only company in Canada still dealing in canned chickens, sells about 60 per cent of its canned chickens to the North.

"We find the consumers are a lot of the more senior people that have grown up with this product," says marketing manager Ed Neufeld. "It's very unique product."

In Inuvik, Mabel English, 64, says the last time she had canned chicken was about two decades ago. Her husband worked for the government and employees were issued hampers of canned food, from ham and roast beef to potatoes and fruit. "It was a whole-course meal," she says.

The canned chickens were especially convenient for going out on the land. "You get it to your camp and you pour it in a big pot, add some water and there you are -- you have lunch," English says.

After years of steady but low-level demand, Neufeld says canned chicken sales have been going up. "In the last three years, we've noticed at least a 10 to 12 per cent increase in sales again. We don't know why."

One possible explanation is canned chicken's growing appeal as a novelty item.

Marie-Anick Elie, a 33-year-old communications manager at the Gwich'in Renewable Resource Board, got one as a gag gift two years ago.

"I had never heard of it before so it was very exotic for me. It's an item I put on my desk as an icebreaker. People look at it and start laughing, and everyone who comes in my office has a story about chicken in a can."

Elie has never sampled the chicken herself, "It's probably good, I just don't have the courage to open it. I'm waiting until I'm really hungry at the office."