Simon "the Rabbit" Rosenthall

Editor's Note: This post was written by my friend Suzanne a few months ago, and since it was about her family's beloved rabbit, I thought I would hold on to it for an appropriate occasion. Today I learned that Suzanne and her husband recently had to put Simon to sleep. This post is in memory of Simon the Rabbit.

Okay, I know the blog is "people and food" and that technically I'm not a person. But it seems like the rest of my family is going to get a blog entry so I think I should get one too. First of all, let me get something off of my dewlap (look it up!). We hate it when you refer to salads and greens as "rabbit food" in that tone you take on - you know the one I mean. As if there were something wrong with rabbit food. I can tell you first-paw that it is quite yummy. I get very excited for each of my three salads a day. As a matter of fact, when I was younger and more agile I frequently had to remind my people that it was time for my evening salad. I would subtly bring their attention to the fact that they had missed my usual and preferred feeding time by positioning myself under the dining room table by the entry to the kitchen and the foody-fater (at least that is what the boy Adam calls it).

Just like humans, rabbits all have different palates and prefer different foods. I'm especially fond of carrot tops (even better than the carrot), dandelion greens, kale, and collard greens. I also like a variety of lettuces from simple romaine to frisee to chicory to endive. Radish tops are great but beet tops - no thank you. Fruit is a really special treat - I run in circles for bananas and apples. I also like grapes and strawberries. When I was a baby and had just been adopted by my humans I was exploring the house and sniffed out a bit of pear in the garbage bag. I made a mental note of that pear and it's location and when no one was watching a while later I went back for it. I had to dig a hole in the garbage bag, but it was worth it. Yummy!

Speaking of garbage bags, another thing I love to eat is paper. My favorite paper (non-glossy) was the paper they used to print that list of doctors covered by my humans' medical plan back in Boston. The best glossy paper has got to be People magazine. My predecessor, the late, great, and sorely missed Rubin Speyer (also a rabbit) was particularly fond of very fancy paper. One time he jumped onto a bed to get to a night table that led to a desk where a diploma lay and made a nice snack of it. That is a lot of work for a piece of paper.

In addition to my fresh veggies, I get rabbit pellets made of timothy hay every day and of course I can eat all of the fresh hay (timothy, orchard grass, oat hay) I want. I've lost weight recently so my humans have been letting me eat a lot of alfalfa hay as well. It is not a grass hay like the others but at this point in my life they think I deserve to indulge a bit. Fresh wheat grass is really good, too - it isn't just for cats!

Sometimes the boy, Adam, will give me a special papaya tablet as a treat. And lately I've been getting something called Critical Care mixed with banana twice a day. I'm not sure, but I think my humans might be hiding medication in it. I always mean to check but I get so excited when I smell it that I gobble it up really quickly.

I love my food but most of all I love the love with which my humans feed me!