Eating Bugs (Bunny)

Rabbit is a more environmentally friendly meat than most alternatives, writes Tamar Adler at Vogue. It’s lean, it’s easy to raise, and it’s also cheap.

Rabbits are so inexpensive to raise that organizations such as USAID, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, and Heifer International have, since 2010, funded tiny rabbitries in Haiti as a way of alleviating the many burdens of poverty. The Haitian Rabbit Project’s 1,250 farms provide dependable income and create more food than its rabbit keepers’ families can typically eat. …

I wonder if his rabbits are raised outside, in the meadow. “There’s no such thing as a free-range rabbit,” he says. Even in the wild, rabbits find dark, contained places to huddle — e.g., tunnels. They obviously hop about on their furry legs, but not to graze or sun, only to get from one small shaded place to another. Put directly: Chickens suffer from being in little cages, as would cows and pigs. Put a rabbit on a field and he will naturally find himself a dark, cramped place.

If it’s an affordable and more ethical alternative, could you eat something so cuddly? Does the cuddliness even matter, or is it all protein to you?

RELATED: Virginia Heffernan addresses the treadmill of figuring out weeknight dinners. (“Cooking! Aren’t we past that?”) She and Amanda Marcotte should hang out.

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