Why don't the majority of Americans eat lamb?

I'm not trying to be xenophobic with my post but I just find it very strange. My boyfriend is American and he had lamb for the first time at the age of 32. I have seen it in some supermarkets in the States but it's very expensive and usually imported from NZ or somewhere else. I really enjoy a good roast lamb and it's really as good as any beef steak.

• I'm Greek-American and have noticed the same thing. A similar issue: My father's second (American) wife had no idea what lentils were. She's a generic white person from Texas in her 40's.

• Hasn't been integrated into the melting-pot of American cuisine yet. Most recipes made by households in the U.S. that have a meat component are based around beef, pork or chicken, regardless of ethnicity or national background of person. This is just my theory. I wouldn't eat lamb though for karmic reasons. Silly, I know.

• I'm guessing that it has to do with the abundance of cattle here. We had a war between the cattle barons and the sheep farmers back in the Old West days. I never had lamb until I was in my thirties either and that was in an Indian restaurant (Rogan Josh, I think). It's okay but it has a slightly musky flavor.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep_Wars

• I'd eat more lamb if were cheaper. Unfortunately it is really pricey and the cheaper cuts are incredibly fatty.

• Funny you say that R1 because I never had lentils growing up either. It was black-eyed peas or red beans. I'm Southern and maybe it had to to do with what was just grown here.

• The Midwest is beef country. That corn-fed, grain-fed crap beef is what they consider a great steak. The South is chicken, ribs/pork, beef. When you go into areas with large, minority populations (particularly Greek/Middle Eastern), then you'll find a lot of lamb.

• Where do you live, OP?

• Except for those whose parents came to America from Greece or India, most people I know didn't grow up eating lamb & they say that the flavor is too strong. Before I stopped eating meat, I loved ground lamb patties made with lots of garlic & served with mint jelly. And lamb curry always smells good at Indian restaurants.

• [quote]That corn-fed, grain-fed crap beef is what they consider a great steak. I don't know about that. I was recently at a quasi-business dinner and the British and Australians said the beef was the best they'd ever had. They love eating steaks when they come here.

• Maybe it has something to do with lambs being symbolic of childhood and innocence. We have lambs in nursery rhymes, as nursery decorations and stuffed animals. Most kids have been to petting zoos to see the baby lambs. They're too cute to eat.

• We had lamb, with the obligatory mint jelly, as children and it was tender and delicious. However as I got older I felt it was bad karma to eat baby animals.

• I'm with r11 -- no veal, no suckling pig, no lamb.

• Well, R9, I imagine in the Brits' case, it had to have been tastier knowing the chances were low it was from a mad cow.

  R6

• Because of the price, my family only eats lamb on special occasions. I find it odd that most other Americans never eat lamb, too, OP.

• I don't eat leg of lamb because I HATE it. I liked lamb chops as a kid, but their way too expensive now.

• Lamb is bad for you. High in saturated fat. And it tastes nasty. Just sayin....

• I recently had some lamb from CO that was delicious. The chef came out and told us he buys it from a certain rancher there because it doesn't have that strong taste that some comment on.

• 70s TV ruined a generation from eating lamb. Two events: - All of Walnut Grove succumbs to anthrax after eating tainted lamb on "Little House on the Prairie." - Lizzie Borden was driven to murder after her evil father forced the family to eat spoiled mutton stew for breakfast. At least that was the implication in "The Legend of Lizzie Bordon" with Elizabeth Montgomery. If Bewitched and the Ingalls weren't going to eat lamb, no way was I.

• I like lamb too but it's expensive if I buy it from a local source--like I buy all my meat products. Even the big market lamb is usually more expensive than most other meats. As far as eating baby animals go, I would like to try mutton but I've never seen it for sale in the US. I've heard it's tougher and gamier but heard it can be delicious if slowly braised.

• I adore lamb and goat. I prefer both to beef.

• I don't eat that much lamb because tends to be expensive, unless you're eating kabobs or sandwiches.

• Because it tastes like a barn. When I had fresh lamb (in Greece), I couldn't believe how good it was. In the US, nobody raises lamb (chicken, beef mostly) or even a lot of pigs. So what we do have is expensive and doesn't taste very good. Wild game tastes better (deer, quail, duck).

• The cattle industry is HUGE and has a lot of power.

• Because it tastes gamey, OP. I just don't like it.

• Making a shepherds pie for dinner.

• R18, you forgot the Alfred Hitchcock show from the late 1950s where Barbara Bel Geddes kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DRr6aFSOZEfk

• Americans used to eat lamb is the answer, but sometime in the 1970s they stopped, chiefly due to the expense.

• The real problem is that there was no good fast food that was lamb based (sorry, Olga's Kitchen....)

• It doesn't taste good.

• Because eating a cute fluffy baby lamb makes me feel baaa-aaaa-aaad!

• Sheldon to Penny: The mean Indian lady was trying to make me eat meat that tasted like little balls of sweat.

• When I was very young (mid-to-late 1970s), we ate lamb pretty regularly. I lived with an aunt who came from a large Italian family and we had lamb chops at least once a week. Usually just broiled, but they were delicious. Most of my childhood friends had never eaten lamb at all. As I grew up, the quality of the lamb available declined. It was greasy and definitely didn't taste as good. Of course, it got more expensive and I don't see as much in the stores now. I still do a roast leg of lamb about once a year, but I miss those wonderful lamb chops I grew up on.

• Then you never knew anyone who could prepare it, R29.

• LOL R31. Actually it does have a "sweaty balls" flavor to it.

• A Syrian guy I knew said the trick is to remove every speck of visible fat. That's where the gamey flavor comes from.

• Your Syrian is wrong. It depends on what the lamb is fed, at what age it is killed and whether or not it was castrated. Visible fat is an old Syrian wives tal.

• [quote]Actually it does have a "sweaty balls" flavor to it. Oh, if only. I hate lamb and have had it umpteen times in umpteen ways. There's the smell of old rancid socks being stewed, and then the nasty texture and off taste. Worst of all, one must make a point to be very careful not to reveal one's prejudice against lamb or well-meaning sorts will insist on preparing it for you in their own special ways, certain that the only reason you don't care for it is that you've never had it prepared properly. Venison is another. And then there's pussy.

• Because it tastes gamey.

• My partner grew up in Massachussetts, both parents were Scottish, and he loves lamb and will order it when we eat out or cook it at home. Being born in Europe, I was used to eating lamb. On the other hand, I've met a good number of North Americans who won't eat eggplant.

• Because eggplant is disgusting R39. The texture and taste makes me want to barf and don't you have to soak it or something?

• Eggplant is like cilantro -- different (better or worse) to different people.

• Not soak. Salt it to drain moisture

• Lamb sucks. Pure and simple. I've had leg of lamb, it's greasy and gamey. Lamb chops nothing special, actually boring. Then it's served with mint jelly and then you want to hurl. Give me a rare Kansas City strip anytime. Plus it's pricey.

• R7 I am from South Africa. We have lots of lamb here, as well as beef. I love a good steak but there's nothing like a roast rack of lamb, seasoned with rosemary, salt and pepper. It must also be cooked medium rare, just like a good steak. As for the gamey flavour, maybe the lamb in the US is different because I've never really noticed that. Most South Africans eat alot of lamb, especially bbq lamb chops. I think mutton is alot tougher and definitely has the gamey flavour about it, it also needs to be cooked for long on a low heat, ideal for curries.

  OP

• I love lamb and order it in restaurants, but it's very expensive in markets, as many in this thread have written.

• Kill an animal before it had much of a chance to have a life.... nice... I can hear them screaming now...

  Clarice

• R37 expresses well what I feel. I never had it much as a kid and just can't get myself to like the taste, texture or smell as an adult. Meanwhile, I can't believe the "baby tastes" troll has not yet appeared in this thread. It loves to castigate anyone who does not love lamb for having "baby tastes."

• That Sherry woman with the sock puppet really sealed it for us growing up in the sixties. "Lambchop" was the sock's name. It was a sweet act performed by an attractive blonde. If you were to question Americans who grew up in the sixites I'll bet only 5% eat lamb.

• Lamb is popular on the East Coast or in big cities. I fucking love it.

• OP = Mary, having a little lamb.

• I really like lamb. We only had it for special occasions when I was a kid. As a lot of people have said, it's expensive so I normally don't buy it. I also live along and my favorite lamb dish is leg of lamb which is not practical when cooking for yourself. I'll order it when eating out.

• I make feta stuffed lamb patties and serve them in pita with a yogurt-dill sauce pretty often. I love lamb, but it can be expensive and I can only buy it frozen here in Kansas City. My dad won't eat lamb because he grew up on a farm where sheep were raised. I'm honestly surprised he will eat any meat because his father (my grandfather) was a very overly emotional man and would cry like a baby when it was slaughtering time. He got very attached to his animals.

  JohnEric

• I love lamb stew. I was surprised to discover that, over here, you call it Irish stew. I also like that rack thing. My mother makes it for Easter. I love a leg of lamb because you get lots of leftovers for sarnies the next day. Cold lamb with mustard or some mango chutney on some nice bread is lovely. I don't think the lamb is as good over here as it is in Ireland, though, but I still love it. Damn, now I want lamb.

  Ciaran

• I like broiled lamb chops with honey mustard glaze. My local market carried it during the holidays but it was too expensive.

• Comes down to custom and practice. In the U.S., lamb and turkey - as opposed to beef, pork and chicken - are often - though not always - considered exclusive holiday dinner fare. Conversely, turkey is a major coldcut in the U.S., whereas chicken is a very minor one.

• My grandma used to make Farikal, a Norwegian stew type thing with cabbage (a lot like corned beef & cabbage except with lamb). Traditionally farikal is made with mutton but she always used lamb. It made the whole house stink.

• Because its not sold at McDonald's.

• I had Icelandic lamb recently and it was nothing like Aussie or NZ lamb (which is what you get here in the US). It was closer to veal in appearance and taste. A rack of lamb with a nice Cab or Zin is a perfect dinner in my book.

• I love lamb, especially with mint jelly - Yum Yum Yum! However, it's expensive, and not that easy to find in supermarkets.

• Because it's revolting, that's why.

  Shari%20Lewis

• I'm in my 50's, born and raised in Boston in the 60's. We had lamb regularly but a lot of my friends had never tried it. Most didn't like it when they had it at my house. I live in California now. I cook it at home and order it when out but I notice that a lot of people don't. One issue is that at my local grocery stores (Von's, Albertson's, Ralph's) they don't carry fresh lamb. It comes in these vacuum sealed packets and after sitting in liquid inside those bags, the taste and texture are weird. There is a butcher shop that carries fresh lamb but it's an extra stop and I don't always make the effort. Now, of course, I really want some and I'm trying to decide if I should run out to the butcher's or if we should eat out. Curse you, OP!

• My mom never served it growing up so it was never inducted into my meal rotation as an adult. I have eaten it and liked it when I was a guest but I don't buy it myself.

• Because lamb tastes like shit. the aftertaste is horible.

• Here in Houston we have two places, Niko Niko's and Aladdin, close to one another on Montrose that serve Lamb Kebobs, and both are Heaven. As is another place called Underbelly which sometimes features "Lamburger Helper" - amazing stuff. I didn't have it as a child but boy I'm making up for it now.

• Like R61, I live in CA now. I grew up in the UK and we ate lamb pretty often. It's weird to me that you can't find fresh lamb in the grocery store. It is delicious.

• There is nothing better than real, well-spiced lamb shawarma. I haven't had it in ages. There used to be a place on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn that had good shawarma, and one of the stores used to have it at the Atlantic Antic. I hear there is a place in Bay Ridge. I'll have to check it out.

• I don't eat "exotic" meats like lamb, goat, duck, etc. It creeps me out to eat cute little animals. I only eat chicken, beef and seafood.

• Lamb tastes gamey to me. Give me beef, pork or poultry.

• I lived in Astoria for a couple of years and around the corner from my apt was a butcher who hung a lamb, stripped of its fur, the the window. I almost fainted. Agree with those who won't eat baby animals. I mean, Mary had a little lamb, not sheered and he'd follow her everywhere. And then there's Clarice, and the silence ...

• I came from an Italian-American family. My mother -- God love her -- could bake award-winning cakes, cookies, pies, and bread. She did not like to cook, however. The lamb chops that she made were the most awful tasting food on earth -- well, maybe except for her pork chops. I often cut those dried out pieces of shoe leather that passed for a lamb chop into tiny bits and secretly fed them to the dog. I have since had some exceptionally well prepared lamb in restaurants. But, I rarely see it on the menu, and I don't care to prepare it myself.

• I'm half-Greek and grew up eating it. But I don't like other meats that taste gamy to me, including the dark meat of poultry.

• Is she a great big fat lamb?

  Jame%20Gumb

• Why should anyone have to eat lamb, wackjob/OP?

• MAAAAARRRY!, had a little lamb.

• Good cuts of lamb are hard to find. Most supermarkets don't carry it and if they do, it is expensive or poor quality. Growing up, my town had real butcher shops ...

• Something stinks to hi...gh Holly!

  Elaine%20Benes

• I'm southern, a Texan in fact, and I guess it is legal to grow sheep here if you keep them fenced on your own property and keep them from destroying any free range. There is a restaurant in Illinois which has truck parking, and I had lamb there one time to see how it tastes. It was not very different than beef, certainly nothing about it to justify the cost. The Mexicans who have overrun Texas love barbequed goat, and you can buy it anywhere here, and it is very good. They call it "cabrito".

• Americans are not among the most sophisticated cooks. Lamb is only expensive because Americans don't like it and farmers therefore don't invest in the production of lamb.

  anonymous

• R77 Isn't cabrito goat?

• Yes, R79, if you read what I wrote. It is young barbequed goat.

  R77

• R77 Sorry! My fault for trying to read too fast.

  R79

• Don't eat me, Lisa!

  cute%20little%20lamb%20at%20the%20petting%20zoo

• I prefer mussels.

• Doctor! Doctor! The lambs are screaming again!! I could barely hear what was going on at the Golden Globes over there bah-ing. Did my speech go ok?

  Jodie

• Maybe for the same bizarre reason that, apart from at Xmas, it is nearly impossible to buy Turkey here in NZ.

• OP is a racist who hates Obama and pretends to be American on other threads.

• I love lamb, but many times, I've found it's not prepared well, or it's not really what one would consider lamb, but more like game or mutton. There used to be an arab deli where I'd get really good ground lamb, but after a while, it just became too much bother to make a special trip there, and also I moved away.

• r85, when I lived in NZ, I bought turkey mince for my cat. It was my impression that turkeys are raised in NZ chiefly for export. But I guess a few of them slip through for pet food. That said, before I went vegetarian I couldn't eat lamb not just because it was nasty, but because my Kiwi neighbors had half a dozen lambs out in the season frolicking in the sun. There's no way something that cute ought to be eaten. That, and my in laws (back in the states) eat it all the time, are horrendously bad cooks, and once served me a raw slab of lamb swimming in its own blood with mashed potatoes that were pink from the blood. Nasty.

• Rack of lamb with mint jelly was a classic dished served in "elegant" American restaurants until probably the end of the 1960s. Rack of Lamb, Beef Wellington, Beef Stroganoff, Steak Diane, Cordon bleu...

• Lamb has sort of a "Wild" taste to me, IMHO. I don't like it but I had a British BF who made me try his at The Outback (They serve Lamb). Nasty.

• Nothing ruins good lamb faster than mint jelly. Good lamb likes rosemary and garlic not that fucking jelly.

• I prefer lamb to beef and like lamb as well as pork. Unfortunately for me, I have cancer, therefore I stick to vegetables at all times. I know I can eat small amounts of tissue protein but I figure, if one is going to be as alkaline as possible, there will be no meat or sugar for me.

• When I was growing up in the 60s, my uncle and every other man who had been in the navy in WWII hated the smell of lamb being cooked. Apparently mutton was served on board ships very often and it didn't taste good and the smell lingered. My mom had a Pekingese dog who went insane at the smell of lamb being cooked. He would bark nonstop. We'd threaten him with the newspaper -- he'd just run under the couch and continue barking. The last time I had rack of lamb was a few years agi in a restaurant i really loved. It was supposedly rubbed with spices but there was barely any meat on the bone and what there wast tasted like saturated tree bark. I never went ack there.

• Reza's in Chicago used to serve a terrific lamb chop.

• ;

• I like the taste of lamb after it's prepared, but I find the smell of it cooking to be foul. I can't explain it, to be honest... how something that smells that bad while cooking can actually end up tasting fine, I don't know. I wonder if the smell puts off other people, or if it's just a quirk of mine.

• I really don't know why. When I was growing up in Middle America people ate beef, pork and chicken and that was about it. Lamb chop was a puppet on the Shari Lewis show. Don't the British eat a lot of lamb because they raise so much wool there? Wasn't it lamb-based agriculture that forced all the farmers off their lamb and sent them to the cities to starve and get the plague and eventually form labor unions and get crushed by Thatcher, etc.?

• It really is not that complicated. Different countries eat or don't eat certain things. Lamb is something that you would only find in speciality stores in the US. No different than some countries eating horse or rabbit meat while others don't and think it is strange.

• But lamb is so yummy! Can't wait till Easter. We'll have lamb roast.

• If you google "dog barks smell lamb" you'll find that a lot of dogs freak out at the smell of lamb cooking. Some people find the smell of lamb cooking to be unbearable. I have no problem with it, since we ate lamb a lot when I was growing up.

• OP is an agent for the Lamb Council Board or some other such organiztion. How could you eat a lamb? It tastes yucky, anyway.

• ...and R101 is from the baby tastes squad...Lamb is AWESOME

• The answer lies in the US history books under the Cattle Wars.

• lambs are so cute and cuddly, how could you EAT them? monsters! the lot!

• Oops, I meant google "dog barks lamb cooking." Having seen this happen myself, I can only laugh at the lame-brained theories people offer about why this happens. "Maybe your rescue dog was in a fire when it was a puppy." "Maybe it's the heavy spices." "It's probably because of the attention it gets. Stop coddling your dog." "It's probably a pherome because the lamb was afraid when it was slaughtered." Believe me, it's visceral. There's nothing psychological about it. Some people report their dogs get very upset at the smell of fertilizer. Have you ever used blood meal in your garden? I use it in spring to keep the rabbits from eating my dwarf lilies. The first time I used it, there was this "explosion" from underneath my porch. It was a rabbit who'd been fast asleep, suddenly awakened by the smell. He bolted out of there. Blood meal is a good rabbit repellent. My uncle came over the house once when my mother was cooking lamb and he gagged when we opened the door and said, "I'll come back tomorrow!" He hated the smell of lamb cooking.

• When I was a kid, Greek restaurants made gyro with lamb meat but when I got to be a teen, they switched over to beef and chicken. I guess it was the cost.,

• Mutton is strong but lamb is good. But lambs are full of scrapie and Americans don't want that shit over here. The Brits fucked up their sheep with scrapie, which is mad cow disease for sheep.

• Clarice Starling: I went downstairs, outside. I crept up into the barn. I was so scared to look inside, but I had to. Hannibal Lecter: And what did you see, Clarice? What did you see? Clarice Starling: Lambs. The lambs were screaming.

• I don't know about Americans but I grew up on a farm that was mostly sheep and I don't like the taste of lamb.

• r102 is a shill for the lamb council of USA or some other industry driven group. Think Co-intell

• I have a fairly high tolerance for pungent foods but even I have to admit cooking lamb at home isn't pleasant. I slow cooked lamb shanks a couple of weeks ago and the final result was delicious. The apartment though was rather gamey for a few hours after I opened up the shank packs.

• I'm an American who loves lamb. I love it.

• Because it tastes really nasty and we hate it.

• lamb is nasty

• Why don't Australians eat turkey?

• r012, I don't have baby tastes, just don't have a taste for babies.

• Because it's...disgusting?

  Eat%20a%20puppy%20-%20they%27re%20cheaper%21

• People who eat veal are just the absolute worst. if you're on a date and a person orders veal or lamb, excuse yourself to the restroom and don't EVER GO BACK!

  the%20truth

• I guess they don't have turkey farms in australia.

• some people would eat the kidneys of albino children if it was on the menu.

  epicurean%20

• Yesterday, I took my mother to church to have the family Easter basket blessed. For those of you who are not of Eastern European ancestry, an Easter basket doesn't mean hollow chocolate bunnies, marshmallow peeps or jelly beans. In Slavic cultures, the Easter basket contains meat, cheese, butter, eggs, salt, horseradish-and-beet mixture, etc. If you do a traditional Easter basket, the meats would include lamb, ham, bacon and sausage. Looking around at the various baskets in church hall, everyone had ham; most of the sausage was kielbassa (a garlicy smoked sausage), but I saw some breakfast sausage. I don't think I saw any bacon or lamb. I didn't realize until fairly recently that lamb should be in the basket. My mother said her mother would include lamb, but her family lived in the country and kept livestock. She added that lamb is hard to find in local grocery stores and when it was available it was either of poor quality or too expensive. She that was too bad since she like lamb and would liked to have included it in her basket

• Lambs have scrapie which is like Mad Cow Disease only in sheep. Do you want to lose your mind? That's why them mideast peoples am nuts. They be eating sheeps.

• Australians eat Bush Turkey, which looks like a turkey, sounds like a turkey, tastes like a turkey, but brother, it ain't a turkey.

• Never ate lamb much before I lived in Asia. Now back in the US, we eat it quite a bit. We get ours from a rancher and it is really good.

• A rack of lamb can cost around $60. Considering ham and turkey go on sale during Easter time, its a no brainier what people are going to buy.

• About 15 years ago, I was integrated in the Indian-Arab community of my campus and was introduced to basmati rice. I introduced other people to it (it could only be bought at ethnic stores). Now it's part of the regular white/brown rice section. It takes time for ethnic foods to find their way in the Western mainstream markets, but with increasing globalization of cultures, it slowly happens.

• R126. Are you Al Gore?

• I was in my 20s the first time I had lamb on a trip to Greece. I dont think I have had it since then.

• Another meat question. Does anyone know where you find duck? Many pricier restaurants offer duck dishes on their menu (ex. duck and scallops, Duck l'Orange, Peking duck). The meat dept in your typical grocery store doesn't carry duck, so I am curious as to where to source it.

  Anonymous

• We would have lamb chops from time to time but I find it more difficult to cook. Seems to get tough more easily than beef.

• R129 -- is there is more upscale, pricier grocery near you? Otherwise, as at the meat dept of your mainstream supermarket, they'll likely know where to send you.

• What do you mean, "He don't eat no meat?"

  https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DiFemw_6a-Tg

• I grew up with Shari Lewis and Lambchops. How could I eat lamb after that?? Lambs are too adorable & cuddly & small to eat.

• Greek (aka real) Easter is next Sunday, May 5th. It would be unthinkable to spend the day without roasting a leg of lamb or two and throwing a big party. I'm Greek-American and grew up in the Bay Area. The hills used to be covered with sheep and goats. But at some point, we switched to a cattle economy. Now, all lamb is imported from NZ or AUS and is very expensive... unless you get it from a free-range/organic farm, and then it is even more expensive. To me, US beef is grotesque, bland, and tough. I just don't eat red meat anymore. Madison Avenue has decided that Americans can't handle the sharp flavors of real food. When I visited Holland, the cow meat was Argentinian and grass-fed. It was wonderful. The US corn, cattle, and agribiz industry won't allow that here. That's probably why there's no lamb in America anymore.

• [quote]In Slavic cultures, the Easter basket contains meat, cheese, butter, eggs, salt, horseradish-and-beet mixture, etc. Slavs are backwards and disgusting. Eastern Europe is a hole.

• Lamb's bland.

• R129. Asian markets have duck.

• Lamb tastes like sweater! Give me cow or pig.

• I had roast lamb for Easter dinner. Yum.

• For me it comes down to price. I only get it at the falafel place, and recently bought some at the store, but I'm not really into the great increase in price since I buy organic and local and meat is already pricy enough. (Haven't read the thread. Maybe everyone else says the same thing)

• We didn't have it often but leg of lamb wasn't an uncommon family dinner, usually for Easter or a Sunday supper. I am Irish Catholic on my mother's side (several generations) and lamb is a common dish in Ireland (saw sheep all over the countryside, too). I wish it was more available in the US and not so expensive. I really love it.

• Simple. There is no powerful lamb meat lobby to come up with a snappy marketing strategy to get people to want lamb meat. Beef. It's what's for dinner. Pork. The other white meat. I feel like chicken tonight, chicken tonight. Lamb? Nothing but a little kid's nursery song.

• I prefer shish-ka-bow-wow!

  Mr Lee

• Did anyone see Stephen Colbert and that idiot pig farmer who brought those cute little piglets to the studio? I'm done with ham.

• Lamb should be on sale now that Easter has passed.

• So R1 have any of your Greek aunties had grits or black-eyed peas? Do you consider them as unsophisticated as your "white person" stepmom?

• Because of the beef industry lobby.

• Lambs won't eat corn.

• Jesus spoke of himself as the "lamb of God" so it figures you 'mos would hate lamb.

• I love lamb and venison. I think venison is the only honest meat because you have to work to get it. Not so much with lamb, but I love it too much to have scruples.

• Lamb is buck nasty.

• I'm from Massachusetts too, and in my late 40s, my dad is of Scottish background, and my mom is Irish and Czech. We had lamb regularly, and although I hated the smell while cooking, I really enjoy it. When I worked at an Italian restaurant, there was a boneless marinated leg of lamb on the menu, served in slices like a London Broil. It was the best thing on the menu, not muttony at all, and incredibly tender.

• I always liked lamb, I kind of like the gaminess. However the last few times I had it in a restaurant, it had absolutely no taste.

• We'll be getting more in the future. There's a destructive European weed called spotted knapweed invading the cattle ranges that cattle won't eat but sheep will.

• We had lamb all the time. 100% Irish background, if that means anything.

• grilled lamb is DELISH

• Lamb is bad for you. Very fatty.

• lamb is nasty