Goat: Cooking and Eating by James Whetlor (Quadrille Books, £20) has won a James Beard Foundation Medal for a best single subject book. The medal, awarded at a ceremony at the James Beard Foundation, New York, on Friday 26 April, in front of guests including restaurateur David Chang and American TV personality Tyra Banks, is one of the most prestigious in America. Promoting good food for good, the James Beard Foundation celebrates, nurtures and honours chefs and leaders making food culture more delicious and diverse for everyone.
Ex-chef James Whetlor is the founder of Cabrito Goat Meat, a Devon (UK) based company which has a one sentence mission statement: to put all male billy goats born into the dairy industry into the meat industry. Up until a few years ago most British Billy goats were euthanised shortly after birth. James thought this was, in today’s world of dwindling resources and environmental challenges, unacceptable and set out to do something about it. The award-winning Cabrito Goat Meat now sells to catering butchers and restaurants, from a network of farms across the country.
James is International Director of ‘Goatober’ working with partners in America, Europe and Australia and is consultant for the European ‘Food Heroes’ project, which aims to end food waste in farming across the EU.
Sarah Lavelle, Publishing Director at Quadrille Books, who commissioned Goat: Cooking and Eating comments, “This unique, vital book is genre defining and essential reading for anyone with even a passing interest in food and the way we eat today and is set to be the definitive guide on the subject for years to come.”
In GOAT: Cooking and Eating, James looks at the story of this versatile ingredient and offers 90 recipes from around the world that will answer the common question: ‘How do I cook goat?’ With dishes arranged by cooking technique James shows that goat can be cooked fast and lean, or slow-cooked in curries, stews, braises and roasts as well as make sausages, burgers, and kebabs. There is also a section for delicious seasonings, spice blends and marinades.
From Kid Shanks with Chickpeas and Chorizo to Goat Tacos, Steamed Dumplings to Schnitzel, GOAT encourages people to broaden their cooking repertoire as well as use more goat meat in everyday meals. Plus, there are original recipes from renowned chefs including Yotam Ottolenghi, Neil Rankin, Olia Hercules, Gill Meller and Jeremy Lee.
Alongside advice on sourcing goat meat, James highlights issues within modern farming today, the involvement of artisan tanneries to ensure the use of the whole animal and Cabrito’s charitable work with Farm Africa. Fifty per cent of James’ author advance and royalties from GOAT: Cooking and Eating will go toward Farm Africa’s work to transform agriculture and help farmers in eastern Africa increase their harvests, protect the environment and sell their produce in thriving markets.
Notes to Editors
James Whetlor of Cabrito Goat Meat worked as a chef for 12 years in London, before moving back to his hometown in Devon and working at River Cottage. During this period, he bought four goats to help turn an area of scrubland into useable pasture and learnt about the plight of the British Billy goat, in most cases euthanised shortly after birth. James thought this was, in today’s world of dwindling resources and environmental challenges, unacceptable and set out to do something about it. The award-winning business now sells to catering butchers and restaurants, from a network of farms across the country. www.cabrito.co.uk
Farm Africa is an innovative charity that reduces poverty in rural eastern Africa by helping farmers grow more, sell more and sell for more: the organisation helps farmers to not only boost yields, but also gain access to markets, and add value to their produce.
Farm Africa places a high priority on environmental sustainability and develops approaches that help farmers improve their yields and incomes without degrading their natural resources. Their programmes vary hugely, ranging from helping crops farmers to boost harvests, livestock keepers to improve animal health, and forest coffee growers to reach export markets, but core to all of them is a focus on the financial sustainability of the farmers’ businesses and environmental sustainability.
Many of the poorest farmers in eastern Africa earn their livings by selling livestock and animal products. But livestock farmers face huge challenges in making a sustainable. They have limited access to technical advice, to high-quality feed and vaccines needed to keep their animals healthy, and to markets to sell their animal products.
Farm Africa gives livestock farmers technical advice and training, helps them access animal health services, and helps them gain access to insurance for their animals so that they don’t risk losing everything when drought causes pasture to dry up. www.farmafrica.org