Wild Mushroom Rarebit

One of my Facebook friends asked (in a tone I didn’t care for) “Why do folk insist on calling it ‘rarebit?’ It’s ‘rabbit.’ Mock rabbit, pointing out that the Welsh couldn’t be expected to have actual rabbit. Tons of cultural history in the word. ‘Rarebit’ attempts to avoid it all.”

Well, it’s been called rarebit for about two and half centuries, which is certainly long enough to make it stick in any language. That it’s a (possibly intentional) corruption of a sort of shitty term doesn’t really change that. It’d only been called ‘rabbit’ for sixty years before the corruption emerged. Should we keep calling makrut lime “kaffir lime” out of tradition, even though the word is offensive?

Wild mushroom and bacon rarebit with aged Gruyère, fontina, and St. Bernardus witbier on a bed of arugula — a simultaneously rich and light fall supper! Served with mildly funky Locus Newton Pippin cider. #dinnertonight #rarebit #cheesetoast ? ? ? ? ? ?#food #foodgawker #foodstagram #homecooking #bacon #instayum #instafood #notglutenfree #cheese #bread #fastfood #autumn #mushrooms

A post shared by Heather Arndt Anderson (@heatherarndtanderson) on Oct 7, 2017 at 7:13pm PDT