As chef Peter Kent plates up a rabbit ragu, he thinks about the humble beginnings of this gourmet dish.
Growing up on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, just outside Adelaide, he remembers families trapping rabbits.
While rabbit is no longer a cheap dinner table staple, Mr Kent says it remains popular with patrons at his fine dining restaurant.
“The demand for it is really overwhelming,” Mr Kent said.
“We look at rabbit as a pest and that’s one of the reasons I put it on the menu.”
Peter Kent says slow cooking rabbit on the bone softens the sometimes tough meat. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)
Rabbit numbers are booming again due to recent rainfall, leaving landholders with up to $200 million a year in agriculture production losses, according to Landscape SA.
Despite increasing rabbit populations in the wild, Mr Kent said getting his hands on rabbit meat could be hard.
“I won’t be eliminating many here, but if everyone gets a taste for the rabbit and then can cook their own, that’d be fantastic,” he said.
Rabbit numbers are booming across parts of Australia due to recent rainfall. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Price and popularity
Australians have eaten rabbit since they were brought with the First Fleet, first bred on farms before their populations exploded in the wild, leading to a thriving wild-harvesting trade for their fur and meat.
But after the release of biocontrol methods such as the myxoma virus in the 1950s, rabbit fleas and, later, the calicivirus in the 1990s, rabbit numbers dwindled and the meat price increased.
Tawnya Bahr is a food expert who runs Straight to the Source, a business that connects the hospitality industry to producers.
Tawnya Bahr says a lack of supply at a retail level has driven up the price of rabbit. (Supplied: Tawnya Bahr)
The Sydney chef said a decline in farmed rabbit meant it was about double the price of wild-harvested rabbit, which was smaller and tougher.
“But they’re both delicious,” Ms Bahr said.
About two decades ago, Australia had more than 550 rabbit farms, but viruses and rising operational costs have caused the number to dwindle to fewer than a dozen.
Ms Bahr said the high cost of rabbit and the skills needed to catch and cook it had led to a drop in use.
Chefs say rabbit meat works well in slow-cooked dishes, and is popular in Italian and Maltese cuisine. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)
“It’s kind of cost-prohibitive for families when they can buy a chicken for $20,” she said.
“And because of knowledge with disease, you need to know what you’re doing [to go out and shoot it].”
In South Australia, three accredited abattoirs process rabbits, while three game meat processors are approved to process wild-caught rabbits, according to the state department of primary industries.
At his stall at Adelaide Central Market, butcher Tony O’Connell said his once-a-month delivery of wild-harvested rabbit meat was highly sought after.
Tony O’Connell says rabbit meat supply is limited. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
“We’ll have 30 or 40 phone calls saying, ‘Are they in yet?'” he said.
“If we can get 400 rabbits on a Friday afternoon, we’d sell them Saturday morning, not a problem.”
Mr O’Connell said customers usually pre-booked their rabbits, paying about $22 each.
He said while demand was up, scarce supply and higher operating costs for shooters had driven up the price.
“It’s changed a lot, the cost of going out there, fuel costs, bullets costs, wages, inspecting costs,” he said.
“Thirty, 40 years ago, you’d be sitting in a hotel … and a brown bag would come out with two rabbits in there for 10 bucks, and now they cost me nearly three times that much for one.”
Eat to eliminate?
Invasive Species Council chief executive Jack Gough said while he supported rabbits becoming a sustainable food source, eating them was not enough to control them.
Jack Gough says he is worried a resurgence in the rabbit farming industry could delay the rollout of new biocontrol methods. (ABC News: Justin Huntsdale)
“In the 1940s, Australians were consuming about 40 million rabbits a year and making no impact,” he said.
Instead, Mr Gough said the council was pushing for funds for new biocontrol methods, such as reducing rabbit fertility.
“The unfortunate reality with rabbits is you need to remove about 87 out of every 100 rabbits just to see the population decline,” he said.
But for those keen to eat the gourmet meat, there is hope on the horizon to improve access.
Ms Bahr said a resurgence in mobile abattoirs could be a game changer for the availability of rabbit.
“This will hopefully mean we will find more game at a better price point for everyone, including restaurateurs, food manufacturers, and home cooks alike,” she said.
