In the last couple of years, as all things food related have risen sharply in popularity, the American culinary landscape has seen a number of new trends and food obsessions: farm to table, new “it” vegetables, and avocado everything.  There are a number of reasons why these different trends come to be, and a big one is often sustainability and the desire of more and more people to eat not only foods that are good from them, but foods that are made available in a way that is good for the planet.

Enter the goat.

Goat meat is the most widely consumed meat across the globe.  It is prepared in a large variety of ways with different ingredients from India to Mexico, throughout the Mediterranean and Middle east, a number of Caribbean islands, and beyond.  In the United States, however, it is much less popular.  Now, a number of chefs and farmers are trying to make the case for its consumption.  According to Shirley Richardson, a farmer in Vermont, “the goat dairy industry generates a significant number of kids (baby goats) each year to keep their mothers producing milk. Dairy farms have no need for males and keep only some females, resulting in a lot of extra young goats…Farmers welcomed help figuring out a way to put these surplus animals to productive use in the food chain.”[1]  In other words, eating goat meat is good for the food chain and achieving sustainability.

It’s also good for you.  It has more protein than beef, and less fat than chicken.  It is gamier than meats to which we are more accustomed, like lamb, for instance, but that flavor is easily reduced with a number of cooking techniques.  It’s popping up in restaurants across the US, such as the goat tacos at Cabrito in New York City, and Underbelly in Houston.

So, what do you think? Would you try goat?

[1] http://www.eatingwell.com/article/286461/why-you-should-eat-goat-meat/