Rabbit Meat, the "Vegetable Among Meats": Best Seasonal Pairings, Food Taboos and People Who Should Avoid It

Rabbit meat is a high-protein, low-fat, low-cholesterol meat. The protein content of rabbit meat is as high as 70%, higher than ordinary meats, yet its fat and cholesterol content is lower than all other meats, which is why it is called “the vegetable among meats.” So what season is best for eating rabbit meat? What should it not be eaten with? Who should not eat it?

What season is best for eating rabbit meat?

The Compendium of Materia Medica records: rabbit meat is cold in nature and sweet in taste, and has the effects of tonifying the middle and boosting qi, quenching thirst and strengthening the spleen, cooling the blood and relieving heat, and promoting bowel movements. Ancient poems also praise it: “Rabbit meat is found everywhere and is a delicacy among foods” and “Among birds none beats the partridge; among beasts none beats the rabbit.” Rabbit meat is rich in nutritional value, with fine and tender fibers and a delicious taste, suiting modern life's demands for meat quality. From late autumn to the end of winter each year, its flavor is even better. It is an ideal meat for obese people and patients with cardiovascular disease, and it is produced and sold everywhere across the country.

What should rabbit meat not be eaten with?

1. Eggs: after eating eggs, do not immediately eat goose meat or rabbit meat, and even more so do not eat them together. Li Shizhen said in the Compendium of Materia Medica: “Eating eggs together with rabbit meat causes diarrhea.” This is because rabbit meat is sweet, cold and sour in nature, while eggs are also sweet, neutral and slightly cold; both contain certain bioactive substances, and eating them together triggers a reaction that irritates the gastrointestinal tract and causes diarrhea.

2. Celery: rabbit meat should not be eaten with celery; eating rabbit meat and celery together harms the hair.

3. Oranges: the orange is a nutritious fruit, sweet and sour in taste and warm in nature, and eating too many produces internal heat. Rabbit meat is sour and cold, so after eating rabbit meat, it is not advisable to eat oranges right away. At the same time, eating too much can also cause gastrointestinal dysfunction and lead to diarrhea.

4. Ginseng: ginseng is neutral in nature, sweet and slightly bitter in taste, and has the effects of greatly tonifying vital energy, restoring the pulse and stabilizing collapse, promoting blood circulation, and calming the mind and promoting fluid production; however, rabbit meat should not be eaten with ginseng, as eating rabbit meat and ginseng together causes poisoning.

5. Baby bok choy: rabbit meat and baby bok choy clash and can easily cause diarrhea and vomiting. Bok choy is rich in vitamin C, while rabbit meat contains high-quality protein. Eating them at the same time denatures the protein and reduces its nutritional value.

6. Duck blood: eating rabbit meat with duck blood easily causes diarrhea.

7. Mustard: mustard is warm in nature and can warm the middle, open the orifices, free the lungs and clear phlegm. It soothes the diaphragm and stimulates appetite; its pungent taste can irritate the skin and mucous membranes and dilate capillaries, and eating a large amount can reduce blood volume and heart rate. Rabbit meat is sour, cold and cool in nature, opposite to mustard in nature and taste, so they are not suitable to eat together. Mustard seeds, after being ground, are used as a seasoning, and should not be used when cooking rabbit meat.

8. Ginger: rabbit meat is sour and cold in nature, while dried ginger and fresh ginger are pungent and hot; the two are opposite in nature and taste, and eating cold and hot together easily causes diarrhea. Therefore, ginger should not be added when cooking rabbit meat.

9. Soft-shelled turtle meat: rabbit meat and soft-shelled turtle meat should be avoided by those with deficiency-cold in the spleen and stomach. The Compendium of Materia Medica records: “Soft-shelled turtle meat must not be eaten together with pork, rabbit or duck meat; it harms people.” Pork, rabbit meat, duck meat and other meats are all cold in nature, and soft-shelled turtle is also cold in nature; if the two are eaten together, they reinforce the cold nature and are not good for health.

The best pairings for rabbit meat

1. Scallions: the protein contained in rabbit meat is higher than that in an equal amount of beef and mutton, and it is easy to absorb; moreover, rabbit meat is low in fat, so it has long been regarded as a beauty food. Scallions have the effect of lowering blood lipids. Stir-frying the two together makes the meat tender, easy to digest and nutritious.

2. Goji berries: because rabbit meat has fine, loose muscle fibers and high water content, its meat is tender and easy to digest and absorb, and it has the effects of quenching thirst, strengthening the stomach, cooling the blood and removing toxins. Goji berries have the effects of nourishing the liver, kidneys and lungs, and clearing liver heat. They have a certain therapeutic effect on soreness and pain in the lower back, diabetes, dizziness and tinnitus, and blurred vision.

3. Magnolia flowers: magnolia flowers paired with rabbit meat, which tonifies qi and nourishes yin and clears heat and cools the blood, have the effects of nourishing yin and qi and clearing heat and cooling the blood. They are suitable for treating conditions such as yin-deficiency cough, thirst, weakness, vomiting blood and blood in the stool.

Nutritional value and benefits of rabbit meat

Nutritional value

1. Rabbit meat is rich in lecithin, which is indispensable for the development of the brain and other organs, and has the effect of strengthening the brain and improving intelligence;

2. Regular consumption can protect blood vessel walls and prevent thrombosis; it is beneficial for patients with hypertension, coronary heart disease and diabetes, and strengthens the physique and builds muscle. It can also protect the activity of skin cells and maintain skin elasticity;

3. The fat and cholesterol contained in rabbit meat are lower than in all other meats, and the fat is mostly unsaturated fatty acids. Eating rabbit meat regularly can strengthen the body without causing weight gain, making it an ideal meat for obese patients. For women who eat it, it can keep the body slim, so women abroad call rabbit meat “beauty meat”; and eating rabbit meat regularly has the effect of curing disease and strengthening the body, so some people call rabbit meat “health meat”;

4. Rabbit meat contains a variety of vitamins and 8 amino acids essential to the human body, and contains relatively large amounts of lysine and tryptophan, which the human body is most prone to lacking. Therefore, eating rabbit meat regularly prevents the deposition of harmful substances, helps children grow up healthily, and helps the elderly prolong their lives.

Edible benefits

Rabbit meat is sweet in taste and cool in nature, and enters the liver, spleen and large intestine meridians;

It has the effects of tonifying the middle and boosting qi, cooling the blood and removing toxins, and clearing heat and quenching thirst;

It can treat heat-type dampness impediment, quench thirst, strengthen the spleen, cool the blood, relieve heat toxins and promote bowel movements.

Who it suits

The general population can eat it

1. Suitable for the elderly and women, and also an ideal meat for obese people and patients with liver disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes;

2. Pregnant women, women during menstruation, women with obvious symptoms of yang deficiency, and those with deficiency-cold in the spleen and stomach should not eat it.