In Heels and Backwards – Women Butchers Break Bones and Barriers
Tue, Jun 29, 2010
Author: Jacqueline Church (3 Articles)
Jacqueline Church is a contributing writer for Nourish Network, writes the Gourmet Food column for Suite101.com and created Teach a Man to Fish/Teach a Chef to Fish Sustainable Seafood events. She’s at work on a book Pig Tales: a Love Story about heritage breed pigs and the farmers, chefs and artisans bringing them from farm to table. She has a JD from Northeastern and lives in Boston with her husband. Links to her work and blogs are found at JacquelineChurch.com
While culinary schools enroll more women, they’re disproportionately enrolled in pastry and baking curricula. The meat cutters’ union remains largely male and the “rock star butchers” trend often revolves around hulking men with serious ink.
But I met Marissa Guggiana, the soft-spoken “charcuterie curator” at the inaugural Slow Food Nation event. The founder of Sonoma Direct, she aims to bring her grandfather’s ideals, and sausage, to the masses including better, grass-fed meat.
I’ve been gathering stories as if I were gathering seashells while walking on the beach. Only my finds are connections, and stories, they’re women and men with skills, like making steaks from a cow. My pockets are full of hunters, butchers, and cooks with bloody hands. You may keep your pretty shells, I’m happy.
An avid participant in this butchery renaissance, I’ve attended demos and talked to butchers in many places. At two local pig butchering demos I noted the male-female ratio was nearly even. At the IACP Meat Revival demo in Portland, a capacity class of both men and women watched a side-by-side butchering demo of French and American styles.
Emboldened by some Oregon Pinot Noir and the presence of the female farmer who supplied the pigs, I had to ask: “Where ARE the women butchers?” To my delight, not one, but two, women raised their hands, Tray Satterfield and Camas Davis. When Tray spoke of her life-changing career move from finance to butchering she noted that she “had to work dog-years to be taken seriously by the guys doing this.” She quickly added that she was willing to do it, because she knew this was what she was meant to do.
This called to mind the old saw about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. You know, Ginger did everything Fred did, only she did it in heels. And backwards.
Kari Underly learned the butchering trade at her father’s shop. Seeing what he did with the carcasses and learning the skills from him, she naturally followed his path. Beyond her father’s shop, she faced challenges. Butchers refuse to take her as an apprentice, others told her she’d “never cut meat in a big store.” Only last year a large chain in Baltimore was forced to pay damages and to hire women who were routinely denied well-paid meat cutters’ jobs on the basis of gender.
Underly candidly admits her decision to become a butcher was driven by economics. Working her way through school, she knew she could make more as a meat cutter than working behind the deli counter. With so much processing done in large plants, there are fewer butchers around to take on apprentices. Kari’s experience showed her how critical training opportunities are. She’d love to see the trade get more recognition for the art that it is, “It’s honest, and it’s good – it’s a good job.”
Jessica Applestone, co-founder of Fleisher’s along with her husband Joshua, finds their apprenticeships are nearly always booked a few months out or more. “They have taken off beyond our wildest dreams.” The classes are quite diverse, including a mix of men and women. Some take the courses for their own education, others are preparing to launch shops or restaurants of their own. “We get big burly guys and tiny women 5’ tall. Pig farmers, food stylists, paralegal, chefs, and home cooks. Right at this moment the shop’s full of women!”
While more women are breaking in she says it is still a male-dominated profession. Some of this might be due to subtle sexism. “I know people look past me to my husband even though I may know the answer…so, many times I think the public is to blame, too.” In general, she says their shop is very open and it helps that Joshua was raised by a feminist. There’s a camaraderie common to restaurants, even it comes with some coarse jokes.
Butchery is understanding the anatomy and using muscle, gravity, and knife skills. It’s tearing something at the seams, finding that space between the muscles and joints. These are not gender-specific skills. In fact, she finds women are often better at these skills than men. Using the rock-climbing example she says “a man might simply muscle his way up a rock wall, while a woman might use more finesse to work their way up. Both will get there.”
“I like touching meat.” Chichi Wang, Serious Eats Nasty Bits columnist, was sort of nervous at first remembering how sobering it was to don the metal gear and how scary to think of a knife going right into you. It happened to her instructor. She believes butchery “does require some brute force”. While you can use a hand saw to get through a hind quarter, “at 5’3” 100 lbs it is just going to take me longer. The guys would say ‘move like you’re punching someone’ or ‘use your back’. They kept thinking the motion was wrong, but really it’s just strength.”
She started lifting weights and found the work got easier.
“It’s really satisfying to pop joints out of place. I like the sound and the satisfaction if you hit the right tendon or sinew, the tip of the knife is an extension of your hand. It’s really satisfying to tunnel into the animal with your own sense of feel.”
Camas Davis, on the other hand, talks about how much butchery can literally be done with bare hands. The founder of PDX Meat Collective grew up fishing and hunting before becoming a magazine editor. While working for Saveur, she met an old-school Italian butcher who left an impression on her. She was intrigued by him and the artisan nature of his business. When she later lost her job at Portland Monthly, she took the opportunity to return to working with meat, apprenticing with Dominique Chapolard in Gascony.
Education is key to what Davis is doing at PDX Meat. “There’s a lot of interest in knowing more about where your food comes from.” Her classes are about evenly split male-female. “I’m so surprised that we keep selling out. So many people want to learn more.” She hopes to create a culture of people wanting better meat from known sources. “Picking up a knife, putting it into an animal changes you, changes your respect for it. You’re less willing to waste what you’ve paid for.”
Dave Budworth, butcher at Avedano’s says “it’s different for everyone. It is like an art form. Like painting, you learn the fundamentals but then you leave your thumbprint on it.”
Watching a good butcher at work I often think of ballet. There’s such grace and elegance in the movements, but strength and discipline behind it. Come to think of it ballerinas spend more time facing the audience than Ginger did. Now just imagine a carcass in front of her.
# # #
Fleisher’s – Grass-fed & Organic Meats – 845-338-6666
Avedano’s – San Francisco 415-285-MEAT
Range Partners – http://www.rangepartners.com/ 312-850-2044
Sonoma Direct – Marissa Guggiana – http://www.sonomadirect.com 877-5-SONOMA
PDX Meat – Portland Meat Collective, Camas Davis. PDXMeat.com
great article, it reminds me of the many divides that still classicly hang around in other industries. I wonder how much of the divide between men and women in buthering came about simply due to pre-mechanization when it really did require somebody with enough heft to hoist sides of cows and pigs from carts onto counters and they were forced to do it by themselves.
I think too that lots of cultures have traditionally held taboos regarding women and blood. Women give life, so they shouldn’t take it, but on the other hand they bleed every month, so they shouldn’t touch other blood, or sully the solemn duty of sacrifice with their uncleanness. I think this is operative in the Catholic Church, where the consecration of the Eucharist is a reliving of a bloody sacrifice.
Greg, interesting points you raise. I wonder if the castes in India and Japan that traditionally were the only ones to do butchering included or excluded women? Anyone know?
I definitely know that the concept of women being holier than men and therefore not being invovled in the slaughter and butchery of animals is a big tenant of mose western religions
David, it’s interesting to me that the the women themselves have varying opinions about how much brute strength is actually needed today. Especially where there is a rack system where sides are hung and slid, there’s probably less times when you’re actually moving a whole side of beef, say. I certainly couldn’t do it. But once it’s on the table…
My favorite butcher shop in Los Angeles is a small establishment called McCall’s Meat and Fish http://www.mccallsmeatandfish.com/index.html. Run by husband and wife team Karen Yoo and Nathan McCall, the shop is everything a food guru could ask for in their neighborhood. Every time I walk in they are both going to town on a loin or a whole fish, and as I see differing styles in the cuts of particular fish/meat, I wonder whose hand was cutting what that particular day; Nathan or Karen?
Andrew, that McCall’s looks gorgeous. So good to see places paying attention to what local and healthy really mean. I heard someone today describe their dedication to sourcing “local” as a local purveyor. Um, not really the same thing…
Haha, that’s funny. That gave me a chuckle.
I attended one of Kari Underly’s meat cutting demonstrations in Chicago and found her to be light-hearted and passionate about educating culinary professionals. I was amazed at her breakdown of the front and hindquarter. I became a fan of hers that day!
Did you see photos of her recent demo on Facebook? Pretty cool. I really enjoyed meeting her in Portland at IACP.
Very interesting–and informative. I have found the pig I want in So Oregon, but am not looking for a butchery class in So California.
Great article! Also a good reminder that I should get myself to a butching demo/class sooner rather than later.
Demos are great. I’m eager for more hands on class now!
It’s great! It is an eye-opener for me. Well written article.
Thanks for stopping by!
I love this article! Two ladies to add to the list: Erika Nakamura and her partner Amelia are training at Fleishers and heading out to Los Angeles to open their own whole-head butcher shop. I hear Kari is quite good with knives
@Carrie, do you know where they are opening their butcher shop in LA?
I love this! I am looking for someone locally who will teach me. The only other option I have is to drive 60 miles out to the campus of OSU to train under their culinary program. I am hoping that an apprenticeship will somehow work out.
Great article and good to hear there is movement towards more females in the field.
I know it’s hard to find places to learn. Have you tried local culinary training programs maybe?
This is terrific. I’m curious though–is meat butchery something that is taught at most culinary schools? Or does one usually acquire that kind of training in restaurants or actual butcher shops? I’m just wondering how one gets exposure to it if they haven’t had specific training or they don’t know someone (like a relative) in the biz.
Liz: my understanding is that depending on the school, culinary students will get more or less oppty to do so. It’s quite expensive to buy whole or half steer for example and break those down. More often they’ll get a pig or a lamb and learn on those. Schools also differ in their access to these animals as well as their training. Many programs are training chefs for restaurant work where traditionally, they got packaged meat to work with, so these skills weren’t necessarily in demand.
Because people are increasingly interested in the traceability of their food and in hands-on food production experiences, we see more of the boutique butchers offering demos or apprenticeships. I’m all for it!
What a great article. I have been in the meat business all of my life – as a rancher as well as selling meats – beef, pork and lamb. My first “paid” job was working in one of the large meat packing lines – you may say “yuk” – but I say I learned so much – not just about cutting meat – but also culturally from my Hispanic friends on either side of me. Interestingly enough many of the meat cutters were women at the large packing plant – working there to support their families.
I now am with one of the most promienet natural meat companies in the country – and enjoy working with all the men! They are always suprised to see me cutting meat with them…
Coyote Ranch gal – Thanks for sharing your story. In reading some of the research from the various govt bureaus I learned that the industry has one of the highest for serious injuries. Two sources varied as to whether these jobs are on the decline or rise. Anyway, I know it takes skill, attention as well as the stamina to work in the cold, standing, and cutting. More power to you!
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Great article. Iam seeing more women in the industry. I think it is great. Anyone know the name of the girls butcher shop in LA?
Any butchery or beef geeks will love this video of Kari Underly who shows us her favorite cut and some mad skills!
PROTEIN UNIVERSITY :: Chef Butcher Video Network http://t.co/bq1zYqB
Great article on Marissa and Sonoma Direct ( local girl). I will be breaking down a whole Pork on Friday September 3, in Railroad Square for the First Friday Night Event from 6-8 p.m. Come on down to Railroad square and then enjoy some pork specials at La Gare French Restaurant 208 Wilson Street, Santa Rosa 707-528-4355
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