Lamb might have long been a tradition on Australian plates, but there are signs it is becoming an increasingly popular luxury option for American consumers.
Australia’s lamb exports to the United States have broken records in recent years and have remained relatively stable despite high prices and uncertainty around tariffs.
United States-based agricultural analyst Brett Stuart says current global lamb and beef demand “is phenomenal” and that is to Australia’s gain.
Brett Stuart has spoken at the recent Australian sheep industry event LambEx. (ABC Rural: Peta Martin)
“Lamb is having a moment,” Mr Stuart said.
“It’s kind of a new wave of demand. It’s a new luxury item similar to Wagyu beef.
“It is hard to explain how those retail trends shift and consumers shift, but boy, demand for lamb is strong in America and around the world.”
Protein in demand
He believes some of that demand is being driven by the search for protein across generations.
“There’s a huge wave chasing protein. Protein is the new buzz word,” Mr Stuart said.
“You look at these gen Z, these young guys, they’re pouring protein powder on everything they eat right now.
“Even the elderly … and the GLP1 drugs, the weight loss drugs, a lot of those diets are designed around small amounts of high-quality protein.
“So we’re in a spot where every generational group in America is chasing high-quality protein at the same time.”
Australia sends more than $1 billion worth of lamb to America every year. (ABC Rural: Laurissa Smith)
As one of the world’s largest producers, Australia exports about 70 per cent of its lamb overseas, largely to China and the United States.
Australians eat an average of between 4 to 6 kilograms of sheep meat annually per person, one of the highest rates in the world.
But despite receiving a large volume of Australia’s lamb exports, Mr Stuart says Americans consume significantly less when averaged out.
“It’s a very small-consumed item in America, about half a kilo per person [per year],”
he said.
“We’re 40 kilos of chicken a year in America, half a kilo of lamb.”
Chef driving change
One person working to change that is US-based chef and media personality Jess Pryles, who believes Australian lamb is “nowhere near” as popular as it should be in the States.
“That’s what I’m hoping to change,” Ms Pryles said.
Jess Pryles says she is slowly trying to erode barriers against eating lamb. (ABC Rural: Peta Martin)
“In my experience, anytime I can get an American to try lamb, I always hear the same response which is, ‘Oh, I thought I wasn’t going to like it. This is delicious.’
“They have that barrier up, which is slowly eroding.”
She is starting to see more Australian lamb “creep in” to places like Texas and among America’s growing multicultural populations.
“The trick to get people to eat lamb over there is to give it to them in ways they are used to,” Ms Pryles said.
Lamb is being used more in American barbecue. (ABC Great Southern: Rhys Jones)
That means methods like smoking and rotisserie.
“It’s a slow growth,” she said
“We hear that story about World War II and the rations turning a lot of people off [lamb] because they had such a terrible experience with boiled mutton.
“So the story goes that turned a lot of soldiers off, who in turn didn’t feed it to their families and so on. So we’re sort of clawing back space.
“We know it’s a delicious meat and we know that we make it the best in the world here in Australia.”
