At lunch:

Ro: what’s that?

me: that’s chicken, try it, it’s yummy.

Ro: <chewing happily>: I like chicken!

At a friend’s place with free roaming chicken:

Ro: what are the birds called?

me: they’re chickens!

Ro: <smiling and with high confidence>: *that’s* no chicken, daddy – we eat chicken!

me: Exactly! They’re chickens. And we eat them.

Ro: <confused, and a little mad>: *NO*, we don’t eat birds, we eat chicken!

me: but the chicken meat we eat comes from these birds. They give their lives for us. They’re very good birds. That’s why we need to be very thankful that we have food!

Ro: No, dad, they’re birds! They’re no chicken. <runs off>

Alternate reality can be bliss.