Why Ewe Eat Lamb on Holidays (but Not the Rest of the Year)
A Brief History of Sheep On—but Mostly off—the American Table
The United States doesn’t eat much sheep. In 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, Americans consumed less than one pound of lamb or mutton (the meat from mature ram or ewe) per capita. Americans are among the world’s top consumers of beef, pork, and poultry—and near the bottom when it comes to sheep. Why do Americans prefer other meats to lamb? And why, in a famously dynamic country, has this preference lasted for hundreds of years? Lamb’s unpopularity has deep roots in the history of …
