There are Goatober events in 2018 in New York to London, Ibiza to Cornwall
GOAT MEAT CAMPAIGN GOES INTERNATIONAL IN OCTOBER 2018
Goatober 2018 launches with events in London, Bristol, Manchester, Cornwall, Rome, Frankfurt, Nantes, Amsterdam, New York and Ibiza
Goatober, the month-long goat meat celebration, has become an international campaign bringing together dairies, farmers, NGOs and individuals who are passionate about ending food waste in the goat dairy system. This October, there are events, dinners and talks from London to New York to Ibiza with one aim: put more goat meat on the menu and put all male goats born into the dairy system in to the food system.
Goatober 2018 is the most exciting yet as events in New York and Brooklyn see all the strands of Goatober pulled together. Until now there has been no coordination between the USA, UK and European events. The Goatober campaign now has senior level strategic direction with dairies, farmers, suppliers and chefs in dialogue and working together to share best practice, ideas and contacts to try and solve the food waste issue in this part of the food system.
In October 2018, there are Goatober events in London at The Jugged Hare, Palatino and the Sustainable Restaurants Association dinner; at Flour and Ash in Bristol; at The Creameries in Manchester and at The Gurnard’s Head in Cornwall. Restaurants putting a goat dish on the menu throughout the month included the ETM group, HIX Group, St John, Ottolenghi and River Cottage Kitchens in Axminster, Bristol and Winchester. Goatober is also collaborating with TABASCO®️ Sauce during its 150th Anniversary year, with TABASCO®️ pepper sauces featuring in several dishes. James Wheltor from Cabrito Goat Meat is speaking and cooking goat meat at the global food symposium Food on the Edge in Galway, Ireland. Working in partnership with the Interreg ‘food heroes’ project, which aims to end food waste in farming across the EU, there are events at the Nantes Food Forum and in Laval in France and in the Spessart region (near Frankfurt; Germany), The Netherlands, Rome and at the Amorevore Food & Arts Festival in Ibiza. In New York, there are dinners at Claro in Brooklyn and Huertas in the East Village, Manhattan, and an event with Farm Africa at Grow NYC in Project Farmhouse, a new sustainability and education centre exploring environmental issues through food, horticulture, arts, recycling and cooking.
Goatober originated in New York in 2011 and was the brainchild of Heritage Foods USA, the largest distributor of rare and heritage breed meats in the USA dedicated to supporting a network of over 50 family farmers who raise their livestock humanely, outdoors, on pasture and never with antibiotics or growth hormones. Its founder, Patrick Martins is also the founder of Slow Food USA and Heritage Radio Network. Patrick comments, “2018 marks our eighth year of Goatober. We offer cuts of goat meat to home cooks from coast-to-coast via HeritageFoods.com and work with more than 100 restaurants who participate annually around the country during the month of October. What started with the desire to help dairies and the destiny of male goats in New England has turned into an international movement to support the consumption of goat meat. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to co-host Goatober events with our partners in the UK and Europe this year who have taken this project further than we ever imagined.”
James Whetlor from Cabrito Goat Meat, a Devon based ethical meat champion and producer, has been at the forefront of bringing Goatober to the UK, comments, “This is a really exciting year for the Goatober campaign as it shows there is an international calling and drive to solve and end the systematic culling of male billy goats born into the dairy system and considered a waste product. By centralising the Goatober campaign and taking it global we can end this practice, while also making goat meat a mainstream product. We are already in discussion with Australia to join the campaign in 2019, so Goatober is something that’s going to get bigger and bigger.”
Marjon Krol, Project Leader at ZLTO (the Netherlands) for the European project Food Heroes “Last year, in 2017, we organized for the first time a Goatober campaign in the Netherlands. Together with some top chefs we had a huge billy goat dinner in the Netherlands during the World Design Event in Eindhoven. It is great to see people’s reaction and to see that the attention for this challenge is growing. Within the Food Heroes project, we try to tackle food waste on several themes together with farmers and stakeholders. This year the partner countries within the project, Germany and France, are also taking part in the Goatober campaign to try to solve the food waste issue of the billy goats.”
For more information about Goatober please visit www.cabrito.co.uk/goatober and follow @GoatoberNews on Instagram.
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About Goatober
Goatober originated in New York in 2011, when Erin Fairbanks, Heritage Radio Network’s Executive Director, had an idea. While working for Heritage Foods USA in Brooklyn, she and renowned cheesemaker Anne Saxelby wanted to end the practice of euthanising young male goats that the dairy industry had no use for. From this senseless waste Goatober was created and with it a month-long celebration of putting goat meat on the menu of New York restaurants. The campaign had quick success and now there are over 100 restaurants involved in Goatober from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Goatober arrived in the UK in 2016 and mainland Europe in the following year. There are vibrant dairy industries across the UK and Europe who want to change the practice of euthanising and Goatober is part of the solution. The campaign aims to put a goat dish on restaurant menus and to encourage people to try cooking goat at home themselves, for all or part of October.
About Cabrito
On moving back to Devon ex-chef James Whetlor called on his 12 years cheffing experience and contacts in London to set up Cabrito Goat Meat working with goat dairies to supply top restaurants including Quo Vadis, HIX Group, ETM and St John. Cabrito has won many awards including Observer Food Monthly Award for Best Ethical Producer, Good Housekeeping’s Champion Meat Producer and the Young British Foodies. Today, Cabrito supplies over 70 well-known establishments including Temper, Marksman, Morito and Pidgin. James’ first book Goat: Cooking and Eating is published by Quadrille (£20) and has been described as ‘genre defining’.
For more information about Goatober or for interview with James Whetlor at Cabrito
please contact Hannah Blake at hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk or 07730 039361