It’s low in fat, high in good things like protein and iron, and “ethically bulletproof”, according to farmers. Now the Observer Food Monthly team has named goat and kid meat as the hottest trend in food for 2015, and the meat could soon be sold for the first time on Ocado, the online grocery delivery service.

Once only available from small butchers serving ethnic populations, goat meat is expanding in popularity thanks to dozens of celebrity chefs and upmarket restaurants putting it on their menus. The next challenge for the producers is to get people to cook kid in their own kitchens, perhaps even replacing the seasonal favourite of lamb.

James Whetlor of kid-meat supplier Cabrito Goat claims that kid is an ethical choice because most male goats born in Britain at the moment are killed soon after birth. Around 30,000 billy goats a year are slaughtered in the dairy industry, as only females are kept for milk and cheese. Whetlor is behind the push to get kid meat on Ocado, and is developing several “oven-ready” meals out of the meat for supermarkets. He has spent the last two years travelling the country, persuading goat farmers to pass their billys to him to raise for meat.

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“There’s been a huge amount of support. I’ve never met a farmer who actually wants to slaughter their animals needlessly, so they are generally more than happy to find a route out of that. And if you are eating goat’s cheese and drinking goat’s milk, then really there’s an ethical dimension to what happens to the wasted billys,” said Whetlor.

“Will Frost, who runs one of the biggest dairy herds of goats in the country, now doesn’t euthanise any of his billys, they all come to us. For me, Michelin stars, winning the OFM award, all of that pales into insignificance compared to that achievement,” he said.

“Persuading people to try it is the real test. Things have been changing for goat beyond the very small ethnic market for it in this country – as soon as big chefs start using it you get their kudos attached to it. The challenge now is to change eating habits. People think of goats as old and smelly but kid is not like that at all. Its a clean taste, a little like veal, not heavy.”

Britain is one of the few places in the world where goat is not commonly eaten. Three-quarters of the global population do eat it, and it makes up some 10% of all meat consumption worldwide, and 60% of red meat. Historically that may in part be due to the dominance and power of the country’s sheep industry, but enthusiasts point to goats eating less forage than cows or sheep as another environmental point for the animals.

At London’s Borough Market, wrapped in his spotless apron emblazoned with “Gourmet Goat”, Nick Stokes is enthusing about the qualities of kid meat. A former teacher, he set up the business selling prepacked meat as well as freshly cooked hot dishes and pies with his wife Nadia some six months ago and is already seeing the meat take hold of people’s imaginations.

“This is such a fantastic product and it’s great to see people come along and be excited about it. Free-range, tasty, good for you – what more can you ask? When we started, no one else seemed to be doing it and it was difficult to get hold of. But now there are quite a few suppliers out there. It would be great to see kid go mainstream, as it is in so many other parts of the world.

“Our customers love it, and hopefully they go away and talk about it. There’s a lot of educating of people to be done when it comes to goat and kid, but the process has started, and that’s great.”

Celebrity chef Antonio Carluccio has been singing the praises of goat: “I’m really glad there is now a supply of this great meat. I am certain we will be seeing more of it,” he said.