Indiana SWMP donates lamb to high school nutrition class

Scottsburg, Ind. – The Indiana Sheep and Wool Marketing Program (SWMP) recently promoted lamb as a source of protein to a high school class by donating meat for students to taste and learn how to cook.

Lamb is popular in many countries around the world as an entrée. In fact, it is the most popular meat in regions such as North Africa, the Middle East, India and parts of Europe. The U.S. is not one of those regions, which is why sheep groups often try to expose consumers to the product.

In an effort to promote lamb in Indiana, the SWMP has funded various industry-related projects. Most recently, the program donated lamb to an advanced nutrition class at Scottsburg High School, introducing students to lamb they otherwise would not have encountered. Ken McMichael, president of the SWMP and a vocational ag teacher at Scottsburg, said introducing lamb in schools is a worthwhile investment for the organization.

“Anytime you can introduce people to stuff when they are younger, they are more apt to utilize or to eat that product the rest of their lives,” McMichael said. “If we want to increase lamb consumption in the U.S., we need to expose people to lamb at an earlier age.”

Beth Walton, Scottsburg’s Family and Consumer Sciences instructor of 11 years, led the class in their lesson on lamb.

“We let the kids pick their recipes, and we talked about how you cook different cuts of lamb and where the cuts of meat come from off the sheep,” said Walton. “I don’t usually find kids who have tried lamb before—I think in this class there is one student who had tried it before, and I’ve only had it once myself.”

For about two and a half weeks, students prepared to cook lamb by choosing recipes and learning different cooking techniques. One such student, Brianna Bunnind, was in a group that chose to make lamb tacos. Bunnind said she chose to take the advanced nutrition class because cooking is a skill she can implement at home.

“I had never baked anything from scratch before my first nutrition class last year,” Bunnind said. “I like learning this stuff. It’s helpful and is actually useful in the real world. We did a taste-testing day last year, and we had things like guacamole and hummus that I got to try and liked. I’ve not tried lamb before, so this is a new thing for me too. I don’t know what to expect.”

Another student, Timothy Miles, said he also had tried recipes in class which he liked but didn’t originally think would taste good. Lamb was a new experience for him, too.

“I don’t know what to expect, I think it might taste somewhat gamey,” he suggested.

After cooking and trying the lamb they made, students debriefed on their experience.

“Although a lot of them were kind of scared to try it, several of the students were pleasantly surprised that they liked lamb,” Walton said. “Having the opportunity to cook a dish they felt was more advanced allows students to shine when they may not have that opportunity in other core classes.”

Jimmy Neace was one student especially surprised by the flavor of lamb.

“I actually kind of thought it was going to be nasty, but the lamb was really good,” Neace said. “And it definitely tastes different than (beef) steak.”

McMichael said the program was beneficial to all parties involved.

“To buy lamb for a class would just be out of the question without this program,” he said. “I would like to see more schools utilize this opportunity, because I think it’s a great way to publicize lamb and help out classes in obtaining meat they otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”

Walton said cooking and trying diverse foods is a skill that can benefit students outside the classroom.

“I think in a community where they typically don’t have the opportunity to try a lot of new stuff beyond what is served at fast food restaurants, this is a great opportunity,” she said. “This gives students the opportunity to try what they’ve never tried before, it diversifies their taste buds, and that way, I feel they’re more likely to try foods they haven’t tried before outside the classroom.”

For information on obtaining funding from the SWMP for sheep industry-related projects, visit https://ag.purdue.edu/arp/Pages/Sheepwool.aspx or contact Dawn Parks at 765-496-7550.