Whole Foods is taking heat for selling rabbit

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Quartz:

No one is talking about selling kittens and puppies at the meat counter, but for the group of bunny-loving pet owners protesting near the Whole Foods in Union Square, they might as well be. Fifty or so women and men of all ages carry signs, pass out flyers and pamphlets, and try to spread their message to passing Manhattanites. “Boycott Whole Foods,” they say, “because they’re killing rabbits.”


This may seem like a trivial fight involving a disproportionate amount of vitriol, but at its core it’s a debate that sheds light on the sometimes arbitrary categories we construct to make sense of the world.

I always find it fascinating what foods, meat in particular, we will and won’t eat and how dependent on our cultural constructs those decisions are. Personally, I love rabbit meat and when I was a kid in Nova Scotia, it was a staple of our diet. My Mom’s Rabbit Stew was spectacular.



58 thoughts on “Whole Foods is taking heat for selling rabbit”

  1. They are considered pests in some places. When I was growing up, I knew kids who treated their pigs and cows like pets and showed them off at the county fair. I think I ate hasenpfeffer at least once, and one we time tried horse meat, about 40 years ago, and a few times bambi, when dad was lucky. I don’t get the difference between beef and horse meat, philosophically, or rabbit, either.

  2. My grandfather hunted deer… it was always a delight to get some of his bounty and make some delicious pizza from it.

    Anyways, I don’t blame them for protesting, no one wants to think about how their favorite pet could be turned into someone else’s dinner. I’m not saying I agree with them on their position in the slightest, but I can totally see where they’re coming from.

    Now I’m actually curious how rabbit tastes like… anyone got a comparison?

  3. Talk about protest, every once in awhile a newspaper or magazine will reprint Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” and then discover a lot of people don’t get satire.

  4. Oh my god – You ate Bugs Bunny?

    One of my favorite German restaurants serves rabbit with apple dressing every Sunday. It’s good.

  5. Whole Foods should come to Montreal for support from italian nonnas. Rabbit has been, is, and will be part of my diet. It’s light and adopts itself well with any side dish or, like Jim mentioned, stews. My fave is in a rich tomato sauce with polenta. Grilled too but can bet ricky as it’s not a fatty meat and can dry up quick.
    I’ll respect their protest, just don’t “fowl” up my choice 😉

  6. Seriously? A protest for rabbit meat? Wow. I don’t understand protesting selling of rabbit meat at all. You can eat it in restaurants. What’s the big deal? Didn’t Elmer Fudd go after Bugs Bunny to eat him? To me rabbit meat is no different than beef, pork, or chicken. People have cows, pigs, and chickens for pets. We eat those types of meat in frightening quantities — far more than is healthy even. Now, if they were protesting how meat is mass processed in this country I can get behind that. It’s beyond gross.

    Here in Louisiana people hunt all the time. Rabbit hunting isn’t that common, but deer and duck hunting is. It’s become almost like a sport because the necessity of it isn’t for survival like it was even as recent as 60-70 years ago when my father was a child. They lure the animals into their line of sight at near point blank range while hiding in the shadows. They get a real kick out of shooting dumb animals and have absolutely no respect for them. I find that practice sickening, but the act of actually eating the meat isn’t.

    My father hunted so much in his youth when he got older he didn’t want to eat the stuff anymore. For me getting a bunch of deer meat is a treat. I’ve eaten rabbit, squirrel, snake, and even alligator.

  12. “To me rabbit meat is no different than beef, pork, or chicken.”

    I’d go far to say the same for horse (which I’ve had) or dog (which I haven’t) or any number of other meats we eat. It’s very culture based though.

    “Now, if they were protesting how meat is mass processed in this country I can get behind that.”

    Agreed. Doesn’t stop me from eating meat though. 🙂

  15. Hilarious. Some people can be very selective about which animals they consider above that arbitrary line. Especially when they’re totally removed from the source of their food.

  17. Indeed. If a cat can catch and eat it and it’s food to humans, I see no reason I shouldn’t eat it.

    Not that I draw the line there, but wherever the line is, catbait should be under it. (Unless you’re vegan or vegetarian, of course.)

  23. I’ll fire up the electric grill. Go get me some tandoori seasoning and the onion powder.

  25. What a stupid thing to protest. Totally ignores all the other dead animals that can be purchased there and that are hopelessly more resource exhaustive in producing. If I recall correctly, rabbits are incredibly efficient to raise for meat as the input of food is roughly equal to the same quantity of meat rendered after dressing the carcass. Plus you have a nice hide that can be tanned into a pelt. I feel like eating some rabbit…

  26. Being French Canadian, I adore rabbit. We should eat more of them: they breed like rabbits!

  27. Ahhhh, no. Any animal consumes far more mass in food than it produces in meat. If the input costs are low, as they often are for wild herbivores, they may be very cost effective to raise / harvest, however nothing like as efficient as you suggest.
    Their value to the fur industry is usually as food to a more valuable animal, rather than as a pelt themselves.

    That said, rabbit is a staple in many cultures, and is often sold alongside poultry, as a “one meal” protein solution. No need to keep it refrigerated for days, or invite the whole village to dinner, as you might need do if you slaughtered a pig.

  28. Koreans eat dogs. Europeans (and Canadians) eat rabbits. Americans eat pigs.

    All are wrong.

  29. Of course you’re right. I shouldn’t have trusted what an over enthusiastic rabbit grower told me a while back. According to the USDA, the ratio is 4:1 for rabbits, 7:1 for cows.

  30. Chickens, fish and crickets are apparently more efficient converters of protein to body mass. I’m not convinced to switch to a diet of crickets, though.

  33. In other news, Burger King wants to buy
    Candian beloved Tim Horton’s
    to save on some Taxes.

    Let the real protest begin.
    I want 10 op-ed rants from loopinsight.

    Let the fun begin.

  37. We value attractiveness. Bunny’s are cute, cows are ugly. It’s why people are moved to tears and clips go viral when an ugly person does well on one of those talent shows. We assume it’s rare that an ugly folk can do well at anything.

  38. What about all of the fish they sell? I’d be willing to bet there are more fish in aquariums than there are pet rabbits in America.

  40. Nope, they can have it. I would prefer not to drink dirty water… but spin off the doughnuts into a new company. Protect that.

  41. Dog is delicious. I raise Yorkies for their meat. The puppies are the most tender of all.

    Golden retrievers are pretty good too. A little more tough because they like running a lot more.

  43. If geneticists could synthesize a convincing enough prime rib, pork shoulder, or atlantic salmon that requires fewer resources and costs less, I’d switch in a moment.

  45. “Bunny’s are cute, cows are ugly.”

    But baby cows are “cute”. Horses are cute. Ducks are cute. Deer are cute. We eat all of those on a regular (horse less so in NA but frequently in Europe) basis.

    I think it’s simply what you were taught as children and/or by your culture. To value certain animals more or less.

  46. This has nothing to do with what meat we choose to eat… it’s just the most convenient thing a few asshats can find to be offended/hurt/slighted or befuddled by and give them a cause to get behind.

    I anxiously await the frog leg protests!

  54. I have a house pet and happens to be an older bun now. I’ve had dogs and cat while growing up and a pet turtle. They are the number 3 pets in the world and in this country. You can potty train a rabbit just lie a cat and dog. Plus just found out their 365 ‘organic” brand isn’t organic, saw in the news comes from CHINA. they lied and I’ve been paying extra for that?

  56. the deal is that Whole Foods has an image of cruelty free and it’s not really that. because they are sourcing their meat in states where there are ag gag laws so whole foods not being transparent. as a consumer I would like to know where the food coming from like recently there was a case the meat to a school was of really diseased cows. as a mom not acceptable!

    just got this vid people are sending to each other now I guess

  57. Two separate issues there.

    Do you eat pork? I hear remarkable things about how intelligent pigs are. What would you say to people who keep pigs as pets?

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