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Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

I wonder why Americans eat so little lamb compared to beef, chicken and pork? I once had shepherd’s pie in the US and it was made with beef!!

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We just don't have a big culture of eating lamb for whatever reason. It may be a result of how the country was settled: sparse population, big open spaces with often harsh weather and large predators (coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions), long distance travel needed to bring the animals to market. I could see those factors favoring larger animals like cattle, smaller animals like chickens which can be raised locally, and "easy" animals like pigs. My family used to raise sheep and they definitely had a tendency to die easy, however delicious they are.

Few (non-immigrant) families eat it, therefore few people know how to cook it properly. And so when they decide to try lamb on a whim, it comes out tasting bland, they say, "Ugh! Lamb is awful!", and never try it again.

It took me over a year to help my girlfriend un-learn that initial reaction by repeatedly taking her to Mediterranean and Indian restaurants where they actually know how to cook lamb.

There's a lot of minced (ground) beef in US cuisine (tacos, burritos, on pizza, hamburgers, chilli, sloppy joes, etc). That's a place where lamb could fit in really well.

This 1000%. To me, plain lamb tastes bad, but it is fine in Indian food. I prefer goat curry anyway.

I think a lamb roast, lightly seasoned before roasting, is one of the finest meals you can get. The flavor of the meat is exceptional, and you really owe it to yourself to try it if you can.

Costco sells lamb roasts for a reasonable price. This looks like a pretty decent recipe, although I never make sauce for my lamb--it's certainly juicy enough as-is: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/rosemary-a...

Another great use for the Costco lamb: cube it, marinade it in French dressing for a few hours, then make kebabs alternating the lamb cubes, chunks of bacon, and pineapple pieces. Cook it on the grill, it's fantastic.

Or a quick, light curry. Add onions, chilli, garlic, mint sauce (simply chopped mint in malt vinegar + sugar), peppers.

American here.

I grew up not eating lamb. It is a weird thing to me. If I went to a restaurant and saw 2 options "Beef meatballs" or "Lamb meatballs", I would pick Beef because it is familiar. I think Lamb is a more tasty and more healthful food, but I think it is just not being part of our culture we eat it less.

On not being part of our culture, I am sure price has something to do with it. Factory mass produced beef is much cheaper than lamb.. but for example Shrimp is also more expensive than beef, and we eat a lot of shrimp..

American midwesterner here.

There is really only one food I ever ate that had any lamb in it. That's the Kronos GyroKones, from Chicago. Those come in all-beef, beef/lamb, and all-chicken. The Greek-American restaurant that my family frequented had to drive their own truck to Chicago to get their gyro meat.

The US just doesn't raise much sheep for food. We grow corn, soy, wheat, alfalfa, and non-alfalfa hay. Then we feed it to cattle, dairy cows, chickens, pigs, layer hens, and turkeys. (The beef cattle and dairy cows might as well be different species, along with the meat chickens and egg-laying hens.)

If you count the heads of cattle in the US, and multiply by 7%, that's about the headcount of sheep. It's all due to the profit margins. If the US really wants wool or lamb, it ships them in from Australia or China. Local farmers can't compete unless they brand as "local" or "free range/organic".

I think a lot of not that fancy restaurants will have lamb chops.

Not Applebee's, but the next tier up will start to.

But why would I, a consumer, get lamb chops over tried and true pork chops?

I recently had lamb chops for the first time because it sounded like something good to try. They were delicious.

I'm pretty happy with the pork chops I can grill myself so I am not inclined to pay extra for them. I've never prepared lamb chops so perceive more risk of wasting the meat if I make them myself.

Have you never wanted to try something different?

Especially when pork chops have been running $1.50 - $2.00 a pound for the past couple years

Was wondering the same thing. Lamb is by far my favourite, commonly available, meat. Roast leg of lamb and mint sauce, unbeatable!

By contrast from 2014 statistics the UK eats roughly 1/3 the amount of lamb as beef. Chicken is the most popular here too. I suspect if lamb weren't noticeably more expensive than beef, pork or chicken the rates would be higher.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/family-f...

Because our winters are harsher so we don't get that grass fed deliciousness like the rest of the world. Beef stands up to corn better.

I think it fell out of favour after WW2 - returning G.I.s had their fill of poor-tasting low-quality mutton from war-ravaged and rationed Europe and wanted their steak, dammit. [1].

[1] http://www.qmfound.com/food_wwII.htm

For us, it was expensive and we didn't really know how to cook it best (no family experience). I did get some in my college years when a greek drive-up only place did kabobs. Chicken was cheaper, and there was much more beef.

I don't like -any- 'gamy' meats. I am sure that I am not in a minority in that opinion among most Americans raised on the bland burgers prevalent in fast food establishments.

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