Regional Mexican Specialty: Birria
Tara A. Spears
www.solmexiconews.com
You don’t have to be a serious foodie or even adventurous to enjoy the favorite regional dish, birria. I gobbled the dish, or more commonly in Jaltemba Bay, birria tacos, for years before learning that the ‘secret’ ingredient is goat meat (carne de cabra). It’s a common sight in the area to see goat herders along highways but I didn’t think about them as a source of meat, only for milk. Families keeping goats are colloquially known as chiveros. It’s an interesting saga how the lowly goat became established in Mexican farming and cuisine.
Goats were introduced by the Spaniards in the 16th century during colonization of Mexico. In this period, the goat population had an exponential growth, due to the abundance of feed sources, grazing land and crop residues. The invading Spaniards seized indigenous peoples’ land, which became the Hacienda agricultural system or huge farms. In the search for more crop land, Spaniards moved to the Bajío region (which encompasses territories of central Mexican states (Michoacán, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Jalisco and later Nayarit) where goats were used mainly to clear off the vegetation for later land cultivation. Goats became the most prominent livestock species during colonization. 
Over the years, goat meat was also a food source for mine workers. Even the goat fat was used to make candles for the mines of the region. By the 18th and 19th centuries, when growing food crops became an important activity in the Bajío, cattle outnumbered goats. This switch to cattle was linked to the development of more sedentary farming systems. If goats’ only source of food is grazing, they need lots of space because they eat nearly everything. Goats were kept in extensive grazing systems and cared for by hacienda workers.
By the 1930s, some haciendas were dissolved and the land was distributed among smallholders (family units) who were entitled to work a plot of land in a ejido system. Currently in the Bajío region, small-scale goat husbandry based on semi-extensive grazing management is relatively popular, especially in villages of the Chapala lake basin area and the Lerma River.
Goat farming has many advantages, thanks to the small-sized animals that need little investment capital, that have comparatively low operational costs and simple requirements for healthy animals. Goats are renowned for their resilience in harsh environments and their relatively low investment for maintenance. Goat husbandry is thought to be a tool for poverty alleviation. 
Today, the Mexican government is promoting goat husbandry as a rural lifestyle. Raising goats is considered to have great potential to improve the livelihoods of poor people. Compared to cattle, goats are easier to raise in resource-poor households. This is because goats are resilient animals that can cope with relatively low quality feed and scarce water which makes goats very suitable for the rugged Mexican terrain and climate. 
Goat milk is the main ingredient for cajeta – similar to the English caramel. Cajeta is a confection of thickened syrup usually made of sweetened caramelized goat’s milk. It is a type of dulce de leche. In Mexico, it is popular on pancakes and other treats. The cajeta industry has several commercial production plants in the central states.
According to the Journal of Dairy Science, “Goat milk has been an important part of human nutrition for millennia, in part because of the greater similarity of goat milk to human milk, softer curd formation, higher proportion of small milk fat globules, and different allergenic properties compared to cow milk.”
The versatile goat is an indispensable part of any rural farm or family plot. Nearly self- sufficient, goats can control vegetation, provide milk and meat. As one local fan suggested, “You have not eaten until you taste a goat kid (cabrito) wrapped in maguey leaves slow-cooked over a charcoal fire!” Try a birria and savor the spicy side of Mexico.
