Rabbits as dinner (pet owners please read another blog)

So, I succeeded in the rabbit “preparation”. One year of anatomy training seemed to help me chop apart an animal that I’ve
traditionally considered a pet. I kept focused on the muscles, bones and tendons and removed the head as fast as possible. I haven’t posted any “anatomy” based pictures, but I’ll email shots with requests. Here's a picture of my "Lapin a la moutarde, pommes sautees a cru" oh, and also a garnish of lapin kidneys and livers on a rosemary skewer just for an extra nibble.

Rabbit as Food
Research on rabbits for food yields a passionate response from consumers, farmers and pet owners. In many countries rabbits represent a nutritious and affordable food source, particularly for low income households. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations promotes rabbit husbandry to address undernourishment and low standards of living in many countries. Rabbit consumption is ingrained in many cultures and is a heritage and backyard food particularly in Europe. France and Italy, which has the highest consumption of rabbit meat, have a long cultural legacy of rabbit consumption.

In the U.S. rabbit meat for consumption is increasing and represented about 20% of the total market for rabbit in the USDA’s latest statistics. This is about 2 million rabbits per year compared to 3.3 million sheep/ lamb and 8.7 billion chickens to give a comparison.

Rabbit Taboos
I can’t find the original source but apparently Chef Jacque Pepin has commented that the growing popularity of rabbit in America is due to the sophistication of the American palate, but that if he skinned a rabbit on his PBS cooking show, he would go to jail or "be assassinated by some league or another." I must add that any food that increases in popularity in the US is probably aided by advertising in some fashion—it’s certainly not solely because rabbit is a nutritionally sound meat.

Rabbit pet owners and organizations opposed to how rabbits are raised for commercial consumption have a valid concern. This concern applies to many other commercial livestock practices in the US: animals in small cages with poor living and feeding conditions. For a couple of diverse views on the subject, I’m attaching three sites: Slow food USA on wild rabbits for consumption (non-industrialized approach), Epicurean’s comments rabbits as delectable foods with recipes and a site on issues associated with industrialized rabbit production. http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark/american_rabbit.html
http://www.epicurean.com/articles/rabbit-almost-too-cute-to-eat.html http://www.rabbitproduction.com/Rabbits_as_Poultry.html



Bottom line...I did like the rabbit, but then again, I'm a cat lover.