Science of Cooking

Not a sign of the times, a sign of the raising. I've eaten Perdue and I've eaten small farm, free-ranging chickens. The latter is often leaner, tougher and incomparably more flavorful.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/poultry-food-production-agriculture-mckenna

In short: chicken got breed for quick growth, lost taste in the process.

It depends of how they are raised. Here in France, we have a "Label Rouge" sign : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Label_Rouge . Label rouge chickens are like twice the price or more, but they are flavorful compared to the cheapest ones. There are other great labels (Loué, Janzé, bio, Nouvelle agriculture, ...).

I think it's just that white folks' tastes have become more accustomed to stronger seasoning. Mine certainly have since I was a kid in the 1960s. Of course some of that is just age progression for an individual, but it's mostly cultural mixing. And following the Penzeys advice to "Season Liberally."

I wonder if it's that or just availability. Some of these things are brought to places now because of our much improved infrastructure.

All animal products that come from factory farms taste different than properly raised animals. Industrial beef smells like corn and tastes bland compared to well cared for beef, but you will pay a premium and it can be hard to find the further you are from the country.

If you haven't had deer, elk, or bison, you need to so you can taste what red meat is suppose to be and you can feel better knowing that the animal lived a great life in the wild before it was murdered.