Does anyone still eat rabbit?

Grampa Don

Grampa Don

Yep, that's me
Location
Orange county, Calif.
My Mom used to fix it once in a while and I remember it as being good. It used to be fairly common to keep a few in the back yard for food. They grow fast and you could even sell the pelt. My wife's Dad kept a few. She said they were mean so she didn't mess with them. And, she remembered their screams when her Dad would kill them. She wouldn't eat one after we were married.

The last time I ate rabbit was just after one of my older brothers was married. They invited my folks and my younger brother and me over for dinner. His new wife wasn't a great cook. She fried it and it was greasy and underdone. We didn't want to hurt her feelings, so we ate it and told her it was good.

I don't see rabbit in the markets anymore. And, I don't remember ever seeing it on a restaurant menu. Maybe it's because rabbits are a rodent or because they're cute. I don't know. Maybe they aren't economical now. Or maybe I just haven't looked hard enough.
 

I hear you Grampa Don.

My suspicions are that wild rabbits are classified as feral animals. That myxomatosis was widely used to erradicate them. That it mutated to strands that were immune to myxomatosis. This tainted the rabbit as a food resource, and the fear of any resurgence of the rabbit plague. Now, the idea of rabbit as a food resource has been uneconomical, even though the rabbit is no longer a threat. It may resurfice on the dinner table in the future, but not at this moment.
 

They served rabbit on my first ship in the Navy. Came frozen in 15lb boxes.
Handled them during underway replenishment (UNREP)
Shipboard Navy cooks never were adapt at cooking meats.
The rabbit came out very lean, dry and stringy.
Didn't really have a taste ... maybe a little like chicken.

I wanted to like it and tried it every time it was served. Always disappointed.
 
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reteP said:
I hear you Grampa Don.

My suspicions are that wild rabbits are classified as feral animals. That myxomatosis was widely used to erradicate them. That it mutated to strands that were immune to myxomatosis. This tainted the rabbit as a food resource, and the fear of any resurgence of the rabbit plague. Now, the idea of rabbit as a food resource has been uneconomical, even though the rabbit is no longer a threat. It may resurfice on the dinner table in the future, but not at this moment.
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I seem to remember hearing that rabbits were an import to Australia and became a serious pest. I wonder if it is illegal to raise them now.
 
Grampa Don said:
I seem to remember hearing that rabbits were an import to Australia and became a serious pest. I wonder if it is illegal to raise them now.
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Yeah, I just checked. We still have over 200 million of them in the wild. Looks like there was never a resurgence after all, and rabbits are continuing to be seen as a pest. It's not a pretty sight to see a rabbit with myxomatosis. . . not appetizing so to speak.
 
My bunny knife just like the ones produced by Sheffield England cutlers for sale in Australia back in the day when rabbit overpopulation became a thing. This one made as a limited release. Only 600 ever made, by a U.S. company called Great Eastern Cutlery (GEC). GEC produces traditional patterns in 1095 carbon steel. This knife has an Ebony Wood handle and is an awesome little Jack knife for every day carry ...

G6MWRgK.jpeg
 
My husband always loved to eat rabbit. He said during the war there was a man who used to walk around the streets calling "Rabbitoh" he used to sell them for 1 shilling each. After we married this was in 1966, he found a butcher shop that sold rabbits. . The butcher said they came from New Zealand and were huge. He' d bring one home and I'd stew it up for him. I never wanted to eat it myself.
 
Grampa Don said:
My Mom used to fix it once in a while and I remember it as being good. It used to be fairly common to keep a few in the back yard for food. They grow fast and you could even sell the pelt. My wife's Dad kept a few. She said they were mean so she didn't mess with them. And, she remembered their screams when her Dad would kill them. She wouldn't eat one after we were married.

The last time I ate rabbit was just after one of my older brothers was married. They invited my folks and my younger brother and me over for dinner. His new wife wasn't a great cook. She fried it and it was greasy and underdone. We didn't want to hurt her feelings, so we ate it and told her it was good.

I don't see rabbit in the markets anymore. And, I don't remember ever seeing it on a restaurant menu. Maybe it's because rabbits are a rodent or because they're cute. I don't know. Maybe they aren't economical now. Or maybe I just haven't looked hard enough.
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Rabbits are Rodents???????? And I used to love them. I haven't had one since teenage when the men in my family caught them while hunting. It was a popular meal when I was a child.
 
@oscash
If they came from NZ in 1966 they would have to have been wild rabbits because it was illegal to keep or breed rabbits then.
We had local rabbit boards whose job was rabbit control. As kids it was a treat to go out with them when they were spotlighting our farm. We used to show them around and open the gates for them.
 
"Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae, which is in the order Lagomorpha. The European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus is the ancestor of the world's hundreds of breeds of domestic rabbit. Sylvilagus includes 13 wild rabbit species, among them the seven types of cottontail."

I googled that.
 
Following WW2 in the UK, rationing remained in effect until the early 1950's. Meat was the last item to be de-rationed and rationing ended completely in 1954. The shortage of fresh popular meat like beef, lamb and poultry meant that menus were creative. To disguise rabbit it was served at home, and in restaurants, in a stew. Rabbit stew and dumplings was always on our school menu but I can't remember the taste, nor do I have any wish to try.
 
For all the wild game in Montana, Elk and rabbit were on top of my list to eat. Except the smell while cleaning rabbits is perhaps the most revolting smell I can remember. Elk of course is usually as good as beef, but I shot a spiked bull once that was unusually tough. Friends remarked that should have been the tenderest meat in the mountains. I guess there are always exceptions.
 
While I was in college in West Virginia I dated a boy who took me home to his house, in a poor coal mining town, for Sunday dinner. His mom had made rabbit and served it cut in small pieces in gravy. Tasted fine.

A few years ago, I thought of him and searched online. He had a very unusual name so I figured I might find him. Sure enough there was his name in a forum where Vietnam vets were talking. It said he was their point man and he had killed quite a few Viet Cong with his shotgun he had brought from home.
 
In the 1950's and early 1960's I lived in the Colorado mountains. During the winter once we had a good snow cover and had a few below zero-degree nights we would hunt cotton tail rabbits. That was the only rabbit in our area. They were fun to hunt and good to eat. My mom fried them just like chicken, I remember them being very good to eat. My whole family enjoyed eating them, even my older sister...

I would never try eating any other type of rabbit and I would not eat a cotton tail unless it was wild and living in freezing weather. They are very clean when the weather is cold...
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I only remember eating rabbit once when my mother cooked it. I was a little girl and don't remember not liking it, so it must've been alright. I don't think I could eat rabbit now. I think bunnies are so cute and even considered getting one as a pet once.
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Just recently I've noticed that this summer our yard has far more precious little bunnies than ever before. I wonder if it might be because my dachshund lost all her teeth last winter.
 
chic said:
Rabbits are Rodents???????? And I used to love them. I haven't had one since teenage when the men in my family caught them while hunting. It was a popular meal when I was a child.
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mrstime said:
"Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae, which is in the order Lagomorpha. The European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus is the ancestor of the world's hundreds of breeds of domestic rabbit. Sylvilagus includes 13 wild rabbit species, among them the seven types of cottontail."

I googled that.
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I was wrong. Rodents are in the family Rodentia, which includes rats, squirrels and beavers.
 

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