It's all in the genetics, and Poulet Bleu is the only one who has them.
French Exclusivity
In 1825 the 19th century epicure and gastronome Jean Antheime Brillat-Savarin (perhaps history's first and greatest foodie) described the poulet de Bresse as the "the queen of chickens and the chicken of kings." So revered by the French, in 1957 the poulet de Bresse became the first livestock to be granted legal protection by the French government by way of its appellation d'origine controlée or A.O.C. status. To this day, only two livestock have been granted A.O.C. status by the French government. In order to protect and preserve the poulet de Bresse, it is illegal to remove live birds and even eggs from France. Roughly 95% of all poulet de Bresse are consumed in France making it nearly impossible for chefs and gourmands around the world to experience and enjoy this delicacy outside of France.
Peter Thiessen
Revered Canadian poultryman, Peter Thiessen, of Abbotsford, BC, spent the years between 1985 and 2003 pursuing his dream to breed a chicken that would rival the legendary French poulet de Bresse. Not just a handsome bird with the iconic bright red comb, perfectly white body and steely blue legs (that was the easy part) but a bird that shared the same characteristics that earned the poulet de Bresse its long-reputed title as the best-tasting poultry in the world. According to Peter Thiessen's son David, his father meticulously cross-bred seventeen different chickens including, it's been rumored, one wild bird, each contributing another piece of the puzzle before he finally achieved his dream of the Canadian blue foot chicken. A 2005 New York Magazine article had this to say about Poulet Bleu’s introduction to New York City’s elite restaurants:
If you’ve perused a fancy menu lately, you might pity the plight of the poor chicken. Every other protein, it seems, has been sanctified and name-branded, from Wagyu beef and Copper River salmon to the not-so-humble Berkshire pork. With the rare pedigree exception—a Giannone here, a Cloonshee there—the best a menu writer has been able to muster about chicken was that it was—yawn—free-range.
Thanks to the drive of a Canadian poultry breeder named Peter Thiessen ... chicken’s place in the epicurean pecking order is about to change. A new boutique bird has been clawing its way onto some of the ritziest menus recently, from Per Se to Alain Ducasse, where it's roasted whole, wheeled into the dining room, and displayed like a trophy before it's carved and anoited with jus. The Blue Foot, or Poulet Bleu as it's sometimes called, is a homegrown version of France's mythical poulet de Bresse.
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[A]fter years of trial and error, Thiessen engineered a bird that sent Vancouver’s French chefs into a tizzy[.] … Like its French counterpart, the Blue Foot has a red comb, white feathers, and steel-blue feet—a characteristic so prized that they’re usually left on for tableside presentation. It’s slaughtered later than mass-market birds, and then air-chilled, two factors that contribute to a firmer texture and a slightly gamy flavor. It might be the closest we’ve come to le vrai Bresse—“just as good,” Ducasse’s French-born Tony Esnault diplomatically declares[.]”
The Poulet Bleu is Mr. Theisen’s bird and no one else has it.