Rabbit Meat Is For Gentlemen

After nearly a year of planning and preparation, free-range rabbit meat is now ready to hit Icelandic shelves.

RÚV reports that yesterday’s Food Market at Harpa featured a number of dishes that are uncommon at best in Iceland, amongst them: free-range rabbit.

Birgit Kositzke, who raises the rabbits, described the meat as “gentlemen’s food” for gourmet palates. Her booth featured rack of rabbit and rabbit legs for sale, and she made a point to emphasise that the animals are raised ethically.

“It’s an interest of mine to raise rabbits so they don’t need to sit in little cages,” she said. “[They] get room to move around, and natural food.”

The project began nearly a year ago, when Birgit was first granted permission by the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST) to begin slaughtering rabbits for sale.

With the permit to slaughter, Birgit is also no longer obliged to cap her rabbit population, but can let them breed at will. Her plan is to start by slaughtering 1,500 per year, but hopes to be able to take that number up to 5,000.