What’s the Right Way to Eat a Chocolate Easter Bunny?

For many people, Easter is second only to Halloween when it comes to indulging in sugary treats. This tradition is so popular that Americans are expected to spend an estimated $5 billion on Easter candy in 2024. And while Peeps and other candies are in demand, the chocolate Easter bunny may be the reigning champ of the holiday’s food offerings.

But what part of the rabbit’s anatomy is usually eaten first? According to the National Confectioners Association, it’s the ears.

The NCA estimates that three out of every four people begin devouring the bunny’s aural parts. That’s in line with a survey conducted by WalletHub, which found that 78 percent of respondents prefer the ears. The survey also indicated 11 percent went for the feet, while the remaining 11 percent opted for the tail.

It’s also not the only study that's been done around this issue. According to a tongue-in-cheek study published in the journal The Laryngoscope in 2017, nearly 60 percent of the 28,000 online participants revealed that they start off by nibbling on the ears. Only about 4 percent claimed to start with the feet, but 33 percent claimed that they really had no preference. It was clear that the majority of people tend to start off at the top and work their way down.

Easter bunnies are a likely remnant of pagan traditions, which celebrated springtime as a period of fertility. The rabbit is, naturally, symbolic of reproduction. Nineteenth-century bunny creations were sometimes hollowed out to hide candy inside. When chocolate began being mass-produced, chocolate Easter bunnies were an obvious progression. One of the earliest sightings was in 1890, when Pennsylvania shopkeeper Robert Strohecker displayed a 5-foot-tall edible rabbit to stir up interest.

Have you got a Big Question you’d like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us atbigquestions@mentalfloss.com.

Read More About Easter:

A version of this story was originally published in 2022 and has been updated for 2024.