​The rabbit seeks to win more and more positions in front of the lamb and become the new star of the Easter table. Ligia Alexandrescu, a consultant in sports nutrition, nutrition education and nutrition communication, says she gets the question “how is rabbit meat?” more and more often, especially at Easter.

Rabbit meat is cheaper than lamb and has fewer calories

The traditional Easter menu contains mainly lamb. But in recent years, lamb has increasingly been replaced by goat meat, and recently there has been a trend to use rabbit meat in traditional Easter dishes.

“Rabbit meat, firstly, is cheaper and, secondly, unlike lamb, it does not release uric acid,” says Ligia Alexandrescu.

Lihiia Alexandrescu, sports nutrition, food education and food communication consultant / Photo: HotNews.ro

Lamb meat “has a lot of purine, and then those who have gout, hyperuricemia, easily fall into a crisis if they eat a lot of meat from young animals. There is not so much purine in rabbit,” the nutritionist explains.

From a nutritional point of view, there are a number of similarities but also differences between these three types of meat, says the nutritionist: “They all come from young animals. We know this very well and, despite the appearance, they are difficult to digest, especially after the period of 7 weeks of fasting that he followed”, says Ligia Alexandrescu.

Differences between lamb, goat and rabbit

Lamb meat is tender, has a specific taste and smell, is a good source of protein, but it can increase uric acid if you consume it in excess – this is more than 200 grams per meal.

Goat meat does the same thing, but has a little less cholesterol, a little less calories, and less cholesterol.

Roast lamb / Photo: Yevhen Bochkarev | Dreamstime.com

Rabbit meat does not release uric acid and does not cause gout attacks in people with gout, hyperuricemia, has a slightly similar taste to poultry meat – I would say, sweet taste and even less calories than lamb and goat meat. In addition, rabbit meat has a very good ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 acids.

Great attention to the source of meat for Easter

All of these meats that are preferred on the Easter table are very perishable, so Ligia Alexandrescu’s advice is to be very careful about the source of the meat during this period.

“Possible food poisoning can have very severe manifestations. We must buy meat from authorized places, and when we buy it, it must be light pink in color, elastic, firm in texture, pleasant, fresh in smell, and the fat must be white, not yellow, and in no way sticky This is how we recognize fresh meat,” the nutritionist advises.