It is a fact universally acknowledged that rabbits reproduce at a rapid rate. But did you know that rabbit meat is kosher, halal and acceptable for Hindus who decline beef for religious reasons? All of that is good news for the world-wide war on hunger—if bad news for bunnies. Dr. Steven Lukefahr has been an avid advocate of rabbit-raising ever since his parents showed him how to raise them for the family dinner table as a young boy. He has spent his career touting rabbit as a solution for protein-energy malnutrition in the developing world. Rabbits, Lukefahr points out, are easy to raise, procreate, er, like rabbits , are relatively disease-free, more easily digestible than some other proteins, are low-fat and have a pleasant taste. While wild rabbits are a little gamier, domestic rabbits taste—okay–a lot like chicken and can be adapted to a wide variety of international culinary tastes. (MORE: Think Twice Before Putting a Pet Bunny in an Easter Basket) “There are no known taboos against eating rabbit,” Lukefahr says. Eating it during Lent was even condoned by Pope Gregory I who proclaimed in the year 600 that rabbit meat was not meat at all. According to Harvard‘s Broad Institute, the papal proclamation led to a boom in cuniculture (rabbit-raising) in France‘s monasteries. No wonder the rabbit still has a role on the kitchen tables of France, Italy and Spain, the southwestern region of Europe that is the birthplace of the modern, domestic rabbit. But perhaps the most important element in popularizing rabbit production is that the animals can be raised on a grain-free diet. In a world of rising prices and increasing demand for grain, the ability to raise a good protein on garden forage is a plus in poor countries. Lukefahr’s first two-year rabbit project was in Cameroon in 1983 under the auspices of Heifer International and rabbit is now on the family menu in that Central African country. An agriscientist at Texas A&M University-Kingsville in South Texas, a stone’s throw from one of the icons … Continue reading How Rabbits Can Save the World (It Ain’t Pretty)