Traditional food: the rabbit

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When we think of traditional food, some folks get a vision of a big bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a family box of fries. However, we are going to go right back to square one, back to a time when we didn't have any teeth, or should I say babyhood. It was kind of hard to chew the old bird then, wasn't it?

To many of us who came from families who lived partially off of the land, our first food was probably the brains of small game animals. It may sound kind of gross to some of you folks, but it really is quite the delicacy. If you can get over the fact that your meal is looking up at you while you're cooking it, then you've got it licked.

My children have had the privilege of starting out life eating traditional meals and they started right from the word go, or should I say, right after the breast-feeding thing. In the first year of our children's lives we introduced them to the soft, somewhat sweet-tasting brains of small game. The hard part was keeping up with their little Aboriginal appetites.

I set rabbit snares here, there and everywhere. The whole rabbit experience made me stop and recite the Aboriginal version of William Shakespeare's "to snare or not to snare."

The trick to cooking rabbit is to let it cook slowly. It isn't really a fast food thing. Although it was fast food when the hopper was still alive or up until you've put it in the old pot. Next, all the bunny needs is patience, a little tender loving care and a few choice spices. Once you have slow cooked it for an hour or so then you can thicken the broth up and make it into a fine stew. All you need is flour or corn starch or in some cases, maybe both.

I guess the first thing a person should know before trying out this recipe, is where to look for the main ingredient. Rabbits can be found all over our great continent, therefore you shouldn't have to go too far to find one. Rabbits like vegetation, both for food and shelter. The easiest time of the year to catch rabbit is winter. They make small trails through the bush and these trails are easy to recognize.

Snaring rabbits is probably the easiest way to catch them. When snaring rabbit, you'll need a role of copper-type snare wire that you can purchase at your local hardware store. Cut the wire into about fifteen inch lengths. Twist one end of the wire to make a small loop. Slide the other end through the loop and there you have it. Once you have repeated this process a few times, you are ready to go out and set the snares.

To set a rabbit snare, you have to find a nice well-packed rabbit trail in the bush and locate a good sturdy tree to tie the snare to. Make sure the tree that you're tying the snare to is beside the rabbit trail or you'll be waiting a long time for your stew to come in. Wrap the loose end of the wire around the tree, about six inches off of the ground. You will have to wrap the wire around the tree at least twice before twisting it off because rabbits do jump around a little before passing away and they might shake your snare loose.

Make the loop in your snare just big enough for you to slip your fist through and set the snare three to five inches up off of the trail.You can add a few guide sticks on each side of the snare and one underneath it to make sure that his head goes through the snare first. When setting snares for rabbits try not to walk right down the middle of the trail, the rabbit may become suspicious and avoid your snares.

All small game especially rabbit, can be made into a variety of stews. Just remember to cook them with their heads on. Children like the taste of boiled brain.