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By Stanford Dailey

Goat: it’s what could be for dinner. But, would folks in East Tennessee be willing to put beef aside, and give the other “red meat” a try?

Goat meat, or “chevon” as it is known in Spanish, has long been a staple of diets in the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. Surely there’s a reason. Could it be that it’s better for humans than other meats?

That’s exactly what some believe. “It’s a lot healthier meat than beef,” said goat breeder Chris Godsey, of Erwin, co-owner of Agri-Tech Boer Goats in Johnson City. “A lot of cardiologists are listing goat meat as the only suggested red meat as part of a recommended diet for their patients.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, goat meat cuts have a fat content level 50 to 60 percent lower than beef prepared the same way, but with nearly the same amount of protein. And, the percentage of saturated fat in goat meat is 40 percent less than skinless chicken and almost 10 times below that of beef, pork or lamb, the USDA reports.

Still, Godsey said, convincing locals to give goat meat a go won’t be easy.

“The white American culture just sort of turns their nose up at it,” he said. “We’ve had goats for years, and we’ve always sold a few to Hispanics,” said Godsey. “We also get a few Muslim customers around the different holidays. But that’s been kind of sporadic.”

Elsewhere in the country, producers can’t keep up with demand for goat meat, according to longtime breeder and author Gail Bowman, in her book, “Raising Meat Goats for Profit.”

“Because of this vacuum, much of the goat sold in the U.S. is imported from New Zealand or Australia,” wrote Bowman, who noted that more than 70 percent of the world’s population eats goat meat, and about 63 percent of the red meat consumed worldwide is goat meat.

This growing trend could be good news for Godsey and other farmers. The USDA said demand for goat meat has in¬creased in some markets of the Southeast, which has led to new opportunities for the small farmer.

Part of this boost in demand is because of “an increase in the influx of ethnic groups from areas of the world where goat meat comprises a significant portion of the diet,” according to the USDA. One local resident said “cabrito,” barbecued goat kid, was often the centerpiece of festive meals in Mexico, where he was born.

“In Mexico, a lot of people can’t afford barbecue every day,” said Cirilo Marcelo, 27, of Elizabethton. “They only eat something like that when they have special days, like a wedding or a baptism.”

He grew up eating goat meat and today raises goats along with sheep and pigs on a Carter County farm. Marcelo, who grew up outside Mexico City, knows what locals are looking for in a goat.

“These Spanish [speaking] people, they don’t like goat that’s frozen, for example,” he said. “It’s not the same taste as when it’s fresh.”

Besides, Mexicans who live in apartments wouldn’t have any place to store a goat, said Marcelo. “So most of the time when they buy one, they will kill it, clean it, and then that same day, they will cook it,” he said.

Methods of cooking goat meat vary. “In Mexico, some might wrap the meat with maguey leaves and cook it in a pot over a fire all night,” said Marcelo. “And then they put different vegetables in with it [which] makes like a soup; they call this consommé. Mexican people really like that stuff.”

Part of the enjoyment comes from time spent preparing the meal, said Marcelo, especially for those who still cook their goats over a fire on a spit, or roast them on the ground in a pit. Just talking about such practices seems to arouse the senses of one Erwin resident, Guadalupe Hernandez.

“I like the taste of it, and I like how it smells [when it’s cooking],” said Hernandez, who enjoyed goat meat often in Mexico.

“I like it because it’s tender,” said Erwin resident Mariana Luquin.

 “Back on the ranch in Mexico, that’s what we would eat.”

José Segovia, 53, had a different take on this delicacy.

“Sometimes I like it, but I’ve been living here 13 years and I never buy it, if that tells you how much I like it,” said Segovia, also of Erwin, who only eats goat when it is fried.

“The part I like the most is the ‘cabrito’ head,” said Segovia. “Now that I like, and you can even eat the eyes. You cut the black part away and the rest, that’s good. Some people like the brains, but I don’t like that much.”

Godsey has learned that people are particular when if comes to goat.
“What Mexicans like is a 40-to-60 pound kid goat,” he said. “Most of the Hispanics want them young, less than a year old. Those are what I call the milk-fat ones, basically just off the momma’s teats.”

Some don’t agree with this practice for religious reasons.

“Some people wait for two weeks from when the “cabrito” was born, and then they cook the “cabrito” just off the mother’s milk,” said Segovia. “It’s a good goat, yeah, but the Bible is going against that. That’s why we don’t do that,” he said, referring to Exodus 12:5.

Still, some would eat goat meat regularly, were it easy to find. “If I could buy it in the grocery store, I’d buy it every day and eat it,” said Lorenzo Nuñez, 40, of Erwin. “I like it better than beef or chicken.”

For now, local grocers are of no help. But, perhaps over time, more will heed the call of the “cabrito,” and the laws of supply and demand will make any day cause to celebrate.