I love your attitude, but I think your mental model is wrong. I think many people don't like lamb (and can't stand mutton) simply because of the way it tastes.

I love your attitude, but I think your mental model is wrong. I think many people don't like lamb (and can't stand mutton) simply because of the way it tastes. My one-time fiancee grew up on a (meat) sheep farm in Manitoba. With her, I've toured sheep stations in Australia and New Zealand. I've been offered and eaten it as a local specialty all around the world---I just don't like the flavor. Sure, a preparation can make it taste less like lamb, but (for me) I don't think it can make it taste good. I'll always prefer beef. The closest I've come to liking it is Gyro meat, and that's usually half beef, and even then, I'm sure I'd like it more without the lamb. Just last month I had to force myself to finish some homemade golubki (cabbage rolls) made with half lamb and half pork that I otherwise would have found fantastic. One theory is that it depends on what you grew up with, but I don't think that's true either. I grew up eating primarily (deer) venison, and never came to like it either. Later in life I've tried a whole lot of other big game meats, and haven't really liked them either. The major exception was (black) bear, which I first had as an adult and thought would be terrible, but it turned out to be incredibly delicious. Whale can be pretty good too, but I don't feel right eating it. I personally think the correct theory is that some people are sensitive to the flavors of different proteins, and that those who are most sensitive are least likely to like lamb. A competing theory is that everyone tastes it but some simply like that flavor. It would be interesting to arrange a dilution test to see which of these hypotheses is closer to true. I don't think the "just haven't had it prepared right" hypothesis has much going for it.