Llama Spaghetti

I’m not exactly what you’d call an adventurous eater. In fact, my palate is about as adventurous as a beige wall.

Weird foods? Strange textures? Questionable ingredients? Hard pass, thanks.

But when our friends invited us over for dinner and mentioned that llama was on the menu, I must have been feeling particularly wild—because I was all in.

A llama rancher down the road from them had an unfortunate prairie dog problem. Tragically, one of their llamas stepped into a hole and broke its leg—badly enough that it couldn’t be repaired. And, well… what’s a rancher to do? Just bury it and walk away? No way. Listen, a broken llama = a lot of good meat.

Silver linings, people. Silver linings. 

So the rancher unalived the llama and, in true good-neighbor fashion, shared some of the meat with my friends. Because that's what awesome country neighbors do—bless you with their bounty, no matter how unconventional it might be.

And let me tell you—dinner was amazing.

I’m proud to say I didn’t discreetly spit anything into a napkin, I didn’t gag, and I didn’t have to fake it .Llama spaghetti is legit delicious. Would recommend.

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So now I can update my short (but growing) Unusual Food List:

• Caviar — So gross. Couldn't wait to wipe it off my tongue when no one was looking.

• Lamb — Hate it so much.

• Escargot — Love it. Ate an embarrassingly large amount on an Alaskan cruise.

• Raw Octopus — Surprisingly delish!

• Yak — Amazing both in meatloaf and stew form.

• Goat — Meh. Mixed reviews. Mostly leaning toward "no thank you."

• Llama — Two thumbs up (at least in spaghetti form)!

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Moral of the story? Sometimes stepping outside your comfort zone leads to some unexpectedly awesome dinners. But if you're a llama, not stepping carefully could put you on the dinner table.