<p>Some people are really upset that Whole Foods is selling rabbit meat:
<a href=“Are Rabbits Pets or Meat? - The Atlantic”>Are Rabbits Pets or Meat? - The Atlantic;
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<p>Are Rabbits pets or meat? Would you eat horse? What’s the most exotic meat you’ve eaten? Where do you draw the line? </p>
<p>Depends on how hungry I am. Rabbit is pretty good. Haven’t had horse but they put it on pizza in France (I avoided that particular). Alligator is great (but not too many pet alligators out there).
The rancher will be the first to say that you don’t name your cows.</p>
<p>I’ve had rabbit and pig’s tongue, both in Russia. Line for me is cannibalism.</p>
<p>I was just at the county fair last week. There was a whole pavilion full of rabbits. I can’t see any principled reason to ban the slaughter of rabbits but not pigs, cows, goats, and sheep.</p>
<p>In South Africa the past couple of weeks, I had ostrich, warthog, and kudu (a kind of antelope). It was all excellent.</p>
<p>both.</p>
<p>When we visited friends’ house in France, they served us rabbit for dinner. I think rabbit meat is quite common in France. I don’t plan to argue with French about culinary affairs.</p>
<p>Rabbit is delicious and where I live in the northwest US, both 4-H kids and adults have been raising them for decades as meat animals. I personally might find it difficult to raise a rabbit and then slaughter it, but I definitely have no problem eating it. My depression-raised parents ate a lot of rabbit just to get by. Though money was not a problem when I was growing up and in young adulthood, my parents continued to cook and serve rabbit. It is yummy. If you don’t want to eat rabbit, don’t, but let’s not get silly. Lambs and chicks are just as cute. </p>
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<p>And deer have those looooong eyelashes</p>
<p>I agree with hunt - if cows, pigs, sheep, lambs, and chickens are okay to eat, what makes rabbits different? Because they are cute and pet-able? Is that somehow an excuse? </p>
<p>My mother had pet chickens growing up, but the family still ate them for Sunday dinner. </p>
<p>Now if one has an aversion to a food that hops but can eat something that flies (for example) - well, it’s crazy logic, but at least it’s consistent. I draw the line at consistency of my argument and my personal taste: if I like the taste, I’ll eat it, even if it’s cute. </p>
<p>Rabbit stew… Mmmmm… Delicious. </p>
<p>If I ever turn vegetarian, I will make exception for rabbit meat - simply because those pests caused way more damage to my veggie garden than all other pests and birds combined!</p>
<p>We spent some time in Italy when our kids were young. At one dinner our waiter asked them if they would like some “chicken” then looked at me, put his finger on the tip of his nose and wiggled it like a bunny. We all enjoyed the “chicken” though I can imagine feeling differently if I kept a rabbit as a pet. I find the idea of eating dog meat abhorrent. I’ve thought about keeping chickens but really wouldn’t want to keep them as pets when they quit laying but wouldn’t want to eat them either.</p>
<p>This thread reminds me of Michael Moore’s “Roger & Me”.</p>
<p>Well, we had a pet bunny. So no, I’m not going to eat rabbit. When my dad was a grad student, he hunted so our family had meat but it was limited to birds (pheasant, dove). That came to a screeching halt when he showed us some beautiful ducks he had shot and I cried. My grandparents raised sheep and made the mistake of “giving” me a lamb. It was the only lamb that ever died of old age on their farm, I’m sure. I don’t eat lamb either. Slowly but surely I think I’m moving to a vegetarian lifestyle. </p>
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<p>You eat my veggies and I eat you!? They like to eat flower seedlings, too. One year, they ate up about $200 worth of flower seedlings from my patio flower bed. Now I know better and put in mature plants.</p>
<p>Por que no los dos?</p>
<p>(Why not both?)</p>
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<p>Can’t say it any better!</p>
<p>One possible issue with eating bunny rabbits, especially for those with a sweet tooth: forgoing all those Cadbury chocolate eggs laid by such bunny foo foos. </p>
<p>:D 
:D</p>
<p>We ate horse meat all the time when living in Central Asia. My kids love the horse “hot dogs”. I’ve eaten ox and scorpion, too. Can’t say I loved those. I’d have no problem with rabbit if that was the best available meat. </p>
<p>I can’t wrap my mind around how people can eat cows. They’re adorable and so sweet and unassuming. </p>
<p>As a vegetarian, all meat is pretty much the same to me. I think it’s interesting where people draw their “line” </p>
<p>Given the number of rabbits frolicking and causing damage in my yard, I’m thinking it is protein on the hoof that needs to be eaten more readily. As with the geese in parks that have become a nuisance, they need some willing consumers. In urban areas as well as rural with no predators, we have upset the natural order of things so completely, that we could stand to hunt eat the animals breeding to excess. Looking at it intellectually, anyhow. Also looking at things from an environmental cost benefit analysis, one of the bigger shames in the history of eating meat, is the corn fed beef industry. Grass fed meat, on marginal land, is a different story, though cows are hard on natural habitat. </p>
<p>There are not absolutes. What we eat is a cultural phenomenon. That the culture is moving towards protein from a quick growing and quick reproducing source seems more environmentally friendly. </p>
<p>Now in my heart, the rabbits are awfully cute, and the little guy we had a pet for a few years was precious. As are the neighbor chickens that I like to tuck under my arm and pet. Living in this culture, I eat some meat, as it is easier, and I don’t like to say no to offered food. In my heart, and for much of my life, eating meat has been far less than essential, so I minimize it. So go for it, Whole Foods! Unless you give up selling meat altogether. </p>
<p>All meat is the same, but once sentiments are thrown in the pot, that’s where lines are drawn. </p>
<p>Cows are ugly. I’d rather see them during Fourth of July…on the grill.
Goats are off-putting. They’re great in a stew, though.
Cats are cute. The deserve to be left pouncing on butterflies in the meadows and doing “kitty” stuff.
Ostriches are odd. I’d rather never ever see it on my plate. </p>
<p>But sentiments can change, especially when someone gives you some nice reindeer jerky. ;)</p>
<p>I think our reactions may also depend on the degree to which the animal in question has been anthropomorphized in popular culture.</p>
<p>I think most people would not want to eat a chimpanzee, because of how anthropomorphic they naturally are.</p>