# Why don’t we eat rabbits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 23, 2015, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522 "2015-10-23T10:48:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/41 "2015-10-23T22:50:05Z")
Well, except for those of us allergic to a lot of the easy sources of plant protein… but even for someone like me, who has to avoid a lot of legumes and grains, we don’t need nearly as much meat for adequate protein in our diet as the average American eats in a day, week, or year. Most people could cut down on meat considerably and probably enjoy better health as a result. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/42 "2015-10-23T22:54:12Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe humans can digest vegetable protein just fine … no need to eat animals at all. This can be problematic, also. Just as eating exclusively rabbits can lead to “rabbit starvation”, it has been shown that eating only vegetables often leads to “vegetarianism”, or in extreme cases, “veganism”. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/43 "2015-10-24T01:10:44Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > This can be problematic, also. Just as eating exclusively rabbits can lead to “rabbit starvation”, it has been shown that eating only vegetables often leads to “vegetarianism”, or in extreme cases, “veganism”. That sounds dangerous … I wonder if that’s true for Pop-Tarts as well. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/44 "2015-10-24T02:05:42Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > That sounds dangerous … I wonder if that’s true for Pop-Tarts as well. Nope. No fruits or vegetables in Pop Tarts. You should be safe, so long as you avoid excessive toasting… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/45 "2015-10-24T04:52:40Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > Not that long ago, buffalo was popular. It was considered to be more eco-friendly than cows. I was even able to buy kosher buffalo meat. It was a bit stronger in flavor than cattle, but tasty. It’s no longer around. I assume that by “buffalo” you mean American Bison. That’s still easy to find in the northern NJ suburbs, and it’s actively farmed in Ohio, at least around Wayne County. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/46 "2015-10-24T05:20:38Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > I assume that by “buffalo” you mean American Bison. That’s still easy to find in the northern NJ suburbs, and it’s actively farmed in Ohio, at least around Wayne County. Yep, bison is readily in all the grocery stores I frequent, from Whole Foods to Jewel. Not sure where it wouldn’t be. I’ve even seen it at the Kroger when visiting my dad in Dallas. And I’ve had rabbit in restaurants on several occasions. I don’t see fresh rabbit in the stores often but frozen ones seem to be available regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/47 "2015-10-24T13:17:42Z")
I’ll add my voice to the “hard to find” camp. My sister wanted to buy some rabbit for a family dinner. Her husband’s family is of Welsh extraction, and this was for some holiday or other. She finally found some but it was hard, in our area at least. (NE Kansas) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/48 "2015-10-24T13:24:29Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I’ll add my voice to the “hard to find” camp. My sister wanted to buy some rabbit for a family dinner. Her husband’s family is of Welsh extraction, and this was for some holiday or other. She finally found some but it was hard, in our area at least. (NE Kansas) She does know that Welsh Rabbit is made with cheese, right? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/49 "2015-10-24T13:26:31Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Yep, bison is readily in all the grocery stores I frequent, from Whole Foods to Jewel. Not sure where it wouldn’t be. I’ve even seen it at the Kroger when visiting my dad in Dallas. > > And I’ve had rabbit in restaurants on several occasions. I don’t see fresh rabbit in the stores often but frozen ones seem to be available regularly. Once again, bison is something that would require a trip to Wholeys or to one of the very few specialty butcher shops still in the area. Giant Eagle is the dominant grocery store chain in the area and they don’t carry bison. It may be the result of a vicious circle. They stock what sells, and since they don’t stock bison it doesn’t sell, so…but the bottom line is they don’t have it. Nor ostrich nor anything, really, beyond the Holy Trinity of beef, pork, and poultry. Their selection of seafood, OTOH, can be surprising. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/50 "2015-10-24T14:06:32Z")
Salmon is very poplar around here, and you can find it in stores … although it’s easier to just scoop them out of the creeks (if you have a fishing license and tags of course). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/51 "2015-10-24T20:59:01Z")
I can’t imagine eating rabbit after having seen [Repulsion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repulsion) many years ago. It’s hard to introduce a new animal into a culture sometimes. We raised some turkeys and chickens for ourselves when I was a kid (and even a pig once). I saw the process from chick to table. I have relatives that are/were farmers who raised dairy cows and some other animals. I never blinked once at eating these critters. (A lot of people around me are hunters, so also grew up with no issues with venison, pheasant, etc. Ditto for fish.) But all the people I knew who raised rabbits did so as pets only. It would feel basically like eating dog. But if you grew up in a culture where dogmeat was okay, then it’s different. Ergo, there was never a major commercial rabbit meat industry, therefore it’s really hard to start one. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/52 "2015-10-25T02:10:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > She does know that Welsh Rabbit is made with cheese, right? 🙂 Oh yes, but it was some other dish she was making, I’m not sure what. Now I’m thinking of the old Bugs Bunny cartoon with the king asking _"Where’s my hassenpfeffer?_ ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/53 "2015-10-25T03:09:00Z")
Where I live, rabbit is a local product not sold in stores. Lots of farm/homesteader types raise rabbits for meat and many will butcher them for you. It is one of the few animals you can raise economically for meat in a small area. I eat it moderately often as I have a friend who raises show rabbits. Apparently to win they need these special markings and if they aren’t born with those, into the freezer they go. If you think you are going to cut it up like a chicken you’ll be surprised, as they are mammals and designed quite differently. But there is no need for shards of bone in your meal. They are very edible, not gamey, all lean dark meat, and there is a lot of meat on a rabbit, about the same as a chicken of similar size. The reason Americans don’t eat rabbit, in my opinion, is a result of the hegemony of industrial commodity farming such that most people eat a far more limited diet than their immediate ancestors. Local foods are somehow unavailable now, except where socialist lefties have formed various alternatives like CSAs and farmers markets. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/54 "2015-10-25T09:45:07Z")
I’ve eaten rabbit in and around Paris. It’s common in the markets and foodie areas. I’ve also eaten wild rabbit in Aus before the success of the last round of bioligica control . It’s not more common in Aus because the regulation and biological control of a pest animal makes it both more complex and more difficult. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/55 "2015-10-25T10:33:05Z")
There is a grocery I’ve never been to that advertises they sell rotisserie rabbit near me, I think the local ag gov agency keeps pushing rabbit as a food source. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/56 "2015-10-25T13:15:55Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I saw a rabbit kiosk at a county fair one time, and the clerk was asking each customer, “Pets or meat?” That brings to mind a scene from, IIRC, the TV show “China Beach”. The nurses go into town and at one shop they find a cute puppy. After cooing over it and deciding to buy it, they hand it back to the shop owner. The shop owner failed to ask that question, and got the answer wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/57 "2015-10-25T18:14:37Z")
> [@squidfood](#): > > Of course I don’t eat rabbit. It’s duck season, you know. Rabbit season! > [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Nope. No fruits or vegetables in Pop Tarts… Not so. It’s less than 2% of contents, but each of the fruit-filled Pop-Tarts has at least some dried fruit in it: [https://www.poptarts.com/en\_US/nutrition.html](https://www.poptarts.com/en_US/nutrition.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/58 "2015-10-26T17:29:51Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Giant Eagle is the dominant grocery store chain in the area and they don’t carry bison. Giant Eagles carry hobbits and wizards. Don’t expect bison. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/59 "2015-10-26T17:53:05Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > If I could purchase rabbit as easily as beef, chicken, or pork at the local grocery I’d certainly eat it. Back when I lived in Chicago and some local stores carried it I’d make rabbit stew occasionally. > > Demand in my area is so low, though, that it’s almost impossible to find and expensive when you can locate it (lamb is similar - it costs three times what beef does in my area). I don’t hunt, which is probably how most rabbit eaters in the area get theirs, nor do I know any rabbit hunters to mooch off of. Me too. I could probably trap some rabbits although the neighbors may notice but God only knows what diseases they may carry like tularemia. [http://www.9news.com/story/news/health](http://www.9news.com/story/news/health) /2015/07/28/tularemia-weld-county/30780991/ Broken link since it is an autorun video. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522/60 "2015-10-26T18:24:29Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Rabbit stew is delicious. [One rabbit stew, comin’ right up!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcxKIJTb3Hg) 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522.md?page=4)