Llama meat trendy, but makes some hesitate


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SALT LAKE CITY — Feel like your culinary tastes range on the adventurous side? Have you ever considered feasting on llama? It's the latest offering in one Utah grocer's meat section.

Reams has been offering llama at its South Salt Lake location for the past couple months and it has sold well, workers said.

"There's stew, there's steaks — we also do the liver," meat cutter Bobby Reynolds said.

Reynolds admits he didn't know at first how well the meat would sell, but it has drawn interest from culinary thrill seekers, food budgeters and foreigners alike. Now, the meat is taking a cut out of the grocery store's mutton and lamb business.

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"We'd run out about the end of the day and people still wanted some," Reynolds said.

Tasters say llama is reminiscent of something between beef and lamb and is less greasy than lamb — though Reynolds insisted beef was a far better comparison. He said it is best prepared on the grill with some seasoning.

"It cooks up pretty well," Reynolds said. "It's very lean and it's not high in cholesterol."

Reams purchases its llama locally — from a meat producer in Springville.

The price per pound, Reams said, is about a quarter that of the better cuts of beef and is only a little more than chicken.

Llama is a trendy menu item in some places. Recently, the New York Daily News reported it was showing up regularly in restaurants at five-star hotels in Bolivia.

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Utah Department of Agriculture and Food spokesman Larry Lewis said llama — like other exotic meats — is checked when it passes through state- and USDA-regulated slaughterhouses.

"If they're going to be sold to the public commercially, they must go under inspection," Lewis said. Still, some lay shoppers KSL talked to Wednesday seemed skeptical about the idea of dining on the gentle, large creatures.

Ron Staker said he wasn't a vegetarian, but the thought of llama gave him pause.

"It occurs to me that any animal that can spit in your eye, you ought not eat," he said.

Regardless, Reynolds said there appears to be a healthy market and llama will likely have a place on the meat aisle for the long-term.

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