The Classic Easter Dish 28% Of People Would Gladly Never Eat Again
With Easter upon us, many Americans are looking forward to a delicious, hearty spring-themed dinner on Sunday. But it appears that not all classic Easter dishes are equally beloved by Americans. When Food Network compiled a list of its 30 most popular Easter dinner recipes, ham not only led the pack, but also appeared no less than five times in different guises (not counting pancetta or pork roast, which would bring the tally to seven). On the other hand, if you like ham as much as Food Network seems to think you do, then it might be startling to learn that out of 655 people in the U.S. surveyed by Mashed, a full 11.6 percent said that baked ham is the one classic Easter dish they would gladly never eat again.
On the other other hand, it turns out that 11.6 percent isn't such a big number after all. In fact, it's nothing compared to the percent who chose "roast lamb" as the Easter dinner dish they wouldn't miss if it never appeared on a plate in front of them again.
Is lamb just too "weird" for some people?
Of all the classic dishes that might appear on your table on Easter Sunday, the one that the most Americans will not be happy to see is roast lamb, according to a survey conducted by Mashed. Of the 655 people who responded to the survey, 28.24 percent said that lamb was the dish they would be glad to never eat again. If you're someone whose mouth waters at the thought of this tender, young red meat — especially the thought of it roasted with garlic and rosemary and served with mint jelly — then you might be scratching your head right about now. But what you need to understand is that your love of lamb makes you a bit exceptional. In fact, many people think the Easter table perennial is downright "weird," according to Utah Public Radio (UPR).
That is not just UPR's opinion either. Back in 1987, doctoral degree candidate, Abbas Mohammad Yaghi, submitted a dissertation to the faculty of the Animal Science Department at Iowa State University that specifically addressed the fact that lamb and other meat that comes from sheep had been declining in popularity over the 15 years prior while other meats were only becoming more popular. "The characteristic flavor has been cited as one reason for the low consumption of sheep meat," Yaghi wrote, "as well as its firm, dense, and dark red color fibers."
The rest of the survey results might surprise you
If you were surprised to learn that both lamb and ham have their share of detractors, we think you might be even more surprised to learn the other classic Easter dishes that survey respondents said they'd gladly never eat again. After roast lamb, the next least popular classic Easter dish was quiche, which 18.63 percent of respondents said they wouldn't miss if they never had it again. Then came roasted asparagus, which 19.24 percent of respondents said they'd happily skip forever going forward. That was followed by deviled eggs, which got 12.67 percent of the "no" votes.
Ham came next, and then the last classic Easter dish that respondents named was...prepare yourself...scalloped potatoes. A full 9.62 percent of respondents said they wouldn't miss scalloped potatoes if they never had it again. Perhaps those respondents just need a new, super tasty recipe?