as shore news fe ROOD nH uD nutritic ’ with tasty rabbit WPE’VE all heard at least one pretty good rabbit joke. But the special talents of rabbits are nothing to snicker at. They grow fast and pro- vide a high y yield of meat per pound of feed. They are one of the very few domesticated animals we consider as occa- sional pets, at Easter for example, but we also con- sume in them commercially sustainable quantities. In European cuisines wild hare and domestic rabbits are very. popular. In Italy, the per capita consumption is 5 Ibs per year, while in North America we usually consume less than % Oz: per person, per year. “Rabbits in B.C. are pro- duced and supplied by farms located in the Interior, the - Fraser. Valley and Vancouver Island. From a culinary point of view it’s important to note that rabbit meat can be a deli- _ cious’ substitute for chicken i in ‘most. recipes. Much like poul- try, rabbic should be cooked well, with the meat ther- " mometer reaching 170 F. Rabbit is an excellent - menu ‘choice for’ an imagina- tive homemaker. Rabbits have slender bonés,: and there is _ Moré: meat per: pound yield than ‘in any other domestic meat. That meat is a good ¢ of protein, B vitamins, im and phosphorus. As . well; 100 | g of cooked rabbit “meat ‘contains only 170 calo- ries “Mark: Hills, the principal of: Hills Food Led. is the only commercial supplier. of rabbit ‘meat to:the retail and food “service ‘sectors.in B.C. For more information call them at 421-3100;-they know every- ‘about ‘rabbits, “In va recent -interview he -discussed the digestibility of “rabbit. :“Rabbit is just: made for a sensitive stomach. It is easy to - digest, and not much to pre- pare — rabbit meat is, quite simply, the best meat you can eat,” he said. This week, our rabbits will _not be the butts of off-color _ Viagra jokes. Rather, let’s hop “ “into the kitchen and cook up ‘