Why butchers are making a comeback in B.C.
Being a butcher is much more than standing in a freezer and hacking meat with a knife, and a butchery instructor in Kamloops says the craft is rising in popularity.
Corey Davison is an assistant teaching professor in the retail meat processing program at Thompson Rivers University who spent decades in the food service industry, including time as a butcher.
“Butchers definitely made a resurgence in the last seven to 10 years, just with the change of people's buying habits, people wanting to know where their products come from and people wanting to support local businesses,” Davison said.
He said it takes knowledge of bone structure to get the most out of expensive cuts of meat, creativity to make the most out of a cheaper cut, and skill to quickly sharpen your knife every five minutes.
“Proteins are really expensive, so working with a high level of accuracy and speed is important,” he said.
The program at TRU is small, only about 15 students, but Davison said 10 of them typically want to be small independent butchers.
“A lot of the supermarkets took their butcher shops out of the stores and had everything cut at a central processing plant and then just shipped out,” he said. “You just had to pick out what was there. That's definitely proven not to be what a lot of the public is looking for now.”
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He said the chaos in the economy because of the U.S. trade war hasn't yet impacted the local meat industry.
Davison said aspiring butchers can take a course like at TRU or do an apprenticeship at a butcher shop, either way the skill is in high demand.
There’s also a personal aspect to local craft butchers that people are looking for.
“They definitely want to have that relationship with their butcher, want to have suggestions on how to cook products, and know that they're getting a safe, ethically raised product,” he said.
Being a butcher can be physically demanding with long hours on your feet, working in fridges or freezers, and the fatigue from the cutting itself.
“You're going to the butcher steel to sharpen every five minutes during the day, constantly,” he said. “The sharper you keep the knife, the less fatigue your body gets. So keeping the knife edge true is important.”
TRU is hosting the second annual B.C.’s Best Butchers competition where 18 butchers will compete to see who has the top cut. Each competitor will prepare a whole chicken, a pork leg and a chuck roll to see who has the best technique.
“Last year's first event was extremely successful, we had a good crowd, and we expect this year to be even bigger and better,” he said.
The butchery contest is at the Scratch Cafe on the TRU campus from 9:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 3. The event is open to the public with free parking and admission by donation.
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