RABBIT MEAT TO BE SERVED IN RESTAURANT

MANZINI – Hunting and the killing of rabbits for fun will soon be a thing of the past as rabbit meat will now be served in one of the lounges locally.

Even though rabbit meat is sold in some supermarkets, it is not very popular among many Swazis. Many locals enjoy hunting the rabbits, either for fun or to feed their pets. Havana Lounge confirmed that it will soon serve various dishes of rabbit meat. The news was relayed by the lounge’s restaurant Manager, Tracy Mabuza during rabbit meat tasting session held at the hangout spot at Moneni yesterday. Havana Lounge had roped in a South African rabbit breeding company headed by two young entrepreneurs, to teach the restaurant’s chefs the different styles of cooking the meat. Mabuza said Havana Lounge’s decision to avail rabbit meat came about after they discovered that it was highly on demand, and proof to that was the fact that it was rarely found in the few shops that sell it around the country. “When we heard that there is a potential supplier, we felt it would not hurt to try new things and see how our customers react,” she said.

According to Dumisani Sikhosana, the Director of S’phanda Ngezinkukhu, the rabbit breeding company, even though rabbit meat may be likened to chicken meat, the difference was that the former had lower levels of cholesterol. It is said to be very high in protein and is ideal for people who are weight conscious. Also, Sikhosana said there was more that could be made out of rabbit meat, for instance; burger patties, sausages and bangers. In addition, Mphumelelo Lukhele, the Chief Finance Officer of the company, who was hands-on in preparing the meat yesterday, said maximum cooking time for rabbit meat was between eight to 10 minutes, depending on the method used. He explained that they never cut off the head of the rabbit when packaging it because some of the countries they export to also eat cat meat, so the rabbit head was meant to differentiate between the two.  He said even though the company was established last year, where it first specialised in chicken breeding, hence the name, it had established a large market base in countries outside South Africa. These countries include Ivory Coast, Kenya and Germany.

“We have been exporting our products to some neighbouring countries but Swaziland, so we are positive that our partnership with Havana Lounge would break ground and open more opportunities for us to supply other shops or even have a breeding place locally,” said Lukhele, who originally hails from Siteki.  The cost of a packed rabbit meat is E65 per kilogramme. “While in Swaziland, we have approached various large retailers about supplying them and hopefully our meat might be largely available in the country,” Lukhele said. On another note, the entrepreneurs said they were cognisant of the different religious beliefs of people, hence they also had a halaal certificate for their Islamic customers in South Africa. However, they said they were aware that some refrained from eating rabbit meat because they deemed it unholy as they claimed it was among the prohibited animals in the Bible. In this regard, Sikhosana said other meat such as pork was also among the ‘unclean’ meats mentioned in the Bible but most people ate it.

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