Being bored last night, I looked up rabbits and boy oh boy did I found out that rabbit has become a trendy meat now in the US. There are now more people raising them for the meat market then when I was a kid.
Hmm. Much like people trying to unload junk on Ebay at absurd prices, the first doesn't necessarily follow from the second: is anyone actually
buying these backyard rabbits? When I was a kid, I knew one family that serially and seemingly randomly tried raising various, er, small livestock in their backyard. It was never really clear whether it was supposed to bring in extra income, or just feed themselves, but in any event I quickly learned not to pay too much attention, so I never really noticed exactly what happened when one transitioned into the other. But none of their efforts ever really seemed to come to a good end...
I've been seeing rabbit on restaurant menus (here in NYC) on and off for 20 years. And it's almost always available at Chinese butchers (but then so are animal(s)/parts you may not have known existed, much less are eaten for food
), and sometimes at random other stores, including the occasional supermarket. But I haven't seen
any evidence that it's become what I'd call
trendy... Not-really-"wild" boar was a pretty hot item at one point, but rabbit? Not so much...
As for what it tastes like, well, keeping mind that I'm talking about raised rather than wild rabbit, I'm not (and hope I never will have to be) in a position to compare it to squirrel, but I will say it does
not "taste like chicken".
Similar in texture, lack of flavor, and sweetness to mild pork, I guess. And much like most "modern" pork, it's apparently really easy to overcook, leaving it drier and a lot tougher than I think it's supposed to be (if you're supposed to actually like eating it anyway), since that's usually how it's turned out when I've had it at restaurants...
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