One of the many perks of working at the Food Network is getting to eat great food often. Today I attended a lunch sponsored by the American Lamb Board, with Chef Tim Love, Texan chef/owner of Lonesome Dove, Duce and the Love Shack, as well as upcoming contestant on Iron Chef America, as their spokesman.

Before lunch, I confessed to Tim that I'm not crazy about lamb — I can eat it but it's not my favorite meat. Maybe I've blocked out lamb because of the time my mom bought a lamb that I had played with every day of my 10th summer at my friend Nancy's farm, had it slaughtered and served it to us without warning. Don't get me wrong — I understand that a happily raised, grass-fed lamb is part of a wholesome farm food chain. It's just that as a suburban 10 year old, no one had filled me in on the facts of farm life. Since I never embraced lamb after that (which meant I never ordered it in restaurants or cooked it myself), most of the lamb I saw was undercooked racks at large catered events or overcooked, gray legs served with bottled mint sauce or jelly. And I'm not alone in this indifference — lamb's got a bad PR problem. As Tim said, it's the quintessential American product that one-third of Americans have never even tried.

A buffet was set up for us, and as usual, I was the first one through. I piled my plate (and I mean piled) with:

· Pulled Lamb Shoulder with Goat Cheese Empanada
· Braised Lamb Shank, served with a Three Bean Ragout and a dollop of fresh ricotta
· Seared Lamb Chop with Goat Cheese soufflé
· Grilled Loin Chops with Sweet Potato Hash and Mango Mint Demi-Glâce (Did I mention the hash was filled with chorizo?)

I never in my wildest dreams imagined a plate piled high with lamb could make me so happy. There wasn't a vegetable in sight — it was just lamb, a few sauces and a small soufflé. This was not an omnivore's meal — this was for carnivores, pure and simple. Dr. Atkins would have highly approved.

Everything I had was outrageously delicious. The meat was tender and perfectly cooked, and that distinct lamb flavor that I used to find objectionable was mild and contributed in a positive way to each dish. This meal truly changed my outlook on lamb and I plan on cooking with it more, especially when entertaining. To get more information on lamb, plus tons of recipes, check out our recent lamb package on Food Network.com. You too might become a new convert.