Troy Spicer pleased with results at World Butchers' Championship
Belmont butcher Troy Spicer is breaking new ground for the trade, leading Ontario's only certificate program for meat carvers at Fanshawe College, and coaching Team Canada's Juniors team at the World Butchers' Championship (WBC) in Paris, France.
Team Canada's 11 members competed in March with butchers from 16 other nations at the 'Olympics of Butchery,' held at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles exhibition and conference centre.
About 3,000 spectators and 30,000 live-stream viewers watched the globe's top butchers in action, with a Juniors competition on March 30, and the National Teams competition on March 31. Winners at the WBC – held every three years – were acknowledged during an April 1 gala.
France took top WBC honors, however, Team Canada relished its performance, as the Juniors finished in the middle of a pack of 17 teams, while the Canadian National Team finished fifth in a field of 14 teams, only two points behind the leader.
'We weren't first, but France was very deserving,' Mr. Spicer said in a recent interview. 'Our people felt that we did very well. We all learned from this experience.'
WBC National Team events are comprised of squads of six butchers. Each team starts out with a side of beef, a whole lamb, a whole hog, and five chickens. The entire butchery process is judged, from set up, to organization, cleanliness, skills, 'cookability' of final meat products, and display quality.
The format for the Juniors competition is similar, but with half a lamb, the centre portion of a hog, a bone-in beef sirloin and two chickens.
'The (WBC) competition started in 2011 and it's been steadily growing since then,' said Mr. Spicer, professor and program co-ordinator of Fanshawe's 30-week professional butcher techniques program, a college certificate program offered at the downtown London campus. 'It was New Zealand and Australia that started the competition and (the Paris event) is by far the largest competition that there has ever been.
'In 2022, Canada decided it was going to put together a team to enter for the event in Sacramento,' added Mr. Spicer. Team members were selected from a pool of applicants reviewed by Team Canada management.
Team Canada's first WBC adventure served as a springboard for greater enthusiasm in the trade here, said Mr. Spicer, who was mentored by Don and Nancy Caverly, at Springwater Packers, in Aylmer, a popular, long-lived butcher shop.
'That's a big reason why I'm involved in this, to help promote the industry,' he said. 'The labor challenges in Canada are pretty significant for meat cutters, so I'm happy to get involved any time, bringing awareness.
'We just aren't seeing young people looking at butchery as a career path,' he added. 'My personal mandate is to help the meat industry with their labor challenges and to inspire young people to become butchers.
'It's really a grassroots type of thing that we're doing, but I think it's building now that we've gone to Paris to compete a second time and did well,' said Mr. Spicer. 'We're getting more traction now.'
Team Canada's co-captains in Paris were Peter Baarda, of J&G Quality Meats Ltd., in Burlington, and Taryn Baker, of The Little Butcher in Port Moody, B.C.
The Team Canada Juniors contingent is comprised of: Dylan Miedema, of Townsend Butchers, in Simcoe; Chris McNutt, of Halenda's Meats, in Oshawa; and Ronnie Keely, of Kam Lake-View Meats, in Kamloops, B.C.
The full 11-member team also includes Damian Goriup, Corey Meyer, Brent Herrington, Dave VanderVelde, Ben Carson and Doug Easterbrook.
Team Canada's National Team coach is Carmello Vadacchino, corporate chef and brand ambassador at F. Dick Knives, as well as Food Supplies, firms that are also WBC anchor sponsors. Mr. Spicer was recruited as the Juniors coach about one year ago.
'There is a desire (for butcher shop products here), but it is a bit challenging, because of the way that our society has evolved in this area,' he said. Team Canada was unable to field any competitors in the WBC apprenticeship category, because there are no butcher apprentices in Canada. 'We are incredibly underrepresented in Canada when it comes to training butchers.
'We have steered away from it,' Mr. Spicer explained. 'It's turning away from artisan-style butchery, (toward a) very industrial style. They don't have that in Europe as much as here. It's still regarded in a lot of Europe as a very noble profession and here, we don't look at it that way.
'A lot of the work we're doing with (Team Canada) is to bring that back up,' he said. 'We need the butchers, but it's not respected the way it should be. When you think about it, it's a huge part of our food system for us to consume, and also to export. It's a huge economic driver for the food processing side of things (and) there are a lot of jobs, really good jobs.
'The big reason I started the program at Fanshawe was because when I was working at Springwater Packers, we were trying to hire butchers and it really was very apparent that there were no butchers to hire. I always wanted to get into education so that was the opportunity that I saw there.'
Mr.Spicer's one-year college certificate program is offered through Fanshawe's School of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts. It was launched in 2017. There's no other program like it in Ontario and only a few others in Canada, including one in Manitoba, several in Alberta, and one in B.C.
In France, he found 100 butchery schools, and 6,000 apprentices.
'For me, I went to school to be a chef and I did a culinary apprenticeship at Fanshawe, and got really interested in where my food comes from, the whole farm to table movement thing,' said Mr. Spicer, an avid hunter and fisherman. 'So I went to Springwater Packers and asked to have a job there so that I could learn about meat and where my meat comes from so that I could make a more informed choice when I'm buying meat.
'Then I fell in love with butchery, which I never ever expected in my life,' he added. 'I can't even put my finger on why. I never cut meat until I started at Springwater Packers. I was good at it, that was the thing, and I enjoyed it.'
Mr. Spicer's parents Dave and Pat Spicer owned and operated Spicer's Bakery in Aylmer for 67 years until their retirement in 2006.
He still remembers the first beef carcass he butchered. 'It was very satisfying to know I had gained enough knowledge and skill to be able to do that and that's why I think we've lost it a little bit with butchery. It's not regarded for the incredible skill and artistry that's actually involved in doing it. It's a trade just like a plumber and a carpenter and some of those things.'
'You start with the whole carcass, and you break it down into smaller pieces, and from those smaller pieces you break it down into even smaller pieces yet, and from those you would cut them into finished products. From a carcass, to a primal, to a sub-primal and ultimately into what we call a retail cut.
'There are differences depending on your style, how you were trained, we all approach things differently, but essentially, yeah, there is a general process and CFIA has all the regulations we have to follow.' The Canadian Food Inspection Agency sets the standards for labelling and nomenclature.
Mr. Spicer said the roots of the education process are in safety: knife care, personal protective equipment, and food safety.
'You have to know how to take care of your knife and use it properly,' he said. 'Once you get that, then you start to apply a little more knowledge to it. So now that I know how to trim a piece a meat, I can go and start to actually harvest that piece from where it is on the carcass, and then I know how to trim and finish it. You almost start more toward the end and work backwards a little bit.
'It is one of the oldest trades, a homestead type of thing,' he continued. 'A family would raise a pig or a cow and then butcher it and eat it.'
Fifteen of Mr. Spicer's students graduated in April, about the same number he's tutored each session since inception. They're all 'great success stories,' destined for industrial butchering jobs, grocery store managers, entrepreneurs, and independent butcher shops, he said.
This generation of butchers are 'moving away from grocery stores to artisan style butcher shops where you get customer service, attention to detail.
'For me it's more about the quality of the end product,' said Mr. Spicer. 'You're going to get a nicer finished product (with trained butchers) and you'll get better customer service through that because the person helping you is probably going to have a deeper knowledge of what they're doing.
'A strip loin, isn't a strip loin, isn't a strip loin, you know,' he added. 'The way they're butchered has a lot to do with the end product as well. You'll have a better eating experience.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Matthew Tkachuk taunts Oilers captain McDavid at Florida Panthers celebration bash
This in from the X account of Florida Panthers fan Jen @jenpnthr, video of Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk taunting Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid at a Stanley Cup celebration party. 'Connor McDavid who?!' shouts Tkachuk into a mic, igniting the crowd into a profane chant about McDavid. 1. Celebrating a Stanley Cup win is all fun until someone loses an eye. Many Oilers fan are upset and insulted by Tkachuk's outburst, but this was a bitter series, Tkachuk is a big mouth, so I don't see any need to get worked up. In fact, I love Tkachuk's outburst, which is almost certainly going to make its way to McDavid. If McDavid was angry before about this Stanley Cup loss, this won't improve his mood. 2. How bitter is Panthers-Oilers rivalry? TSN's James Duthie reported in the final days of the Final: 'Multiple people, who are involved or close enough to hear it all, say this is the nastiest trash-talking Stanley Cup Final they've ever seen. Usually some subjects are off limits. Not here. Everything on the table. 'Pure verbal hate'' 3. The Tkachuk bothers are already talking about the USA winning Olympic gold in February. The last time Team Canada faced Team USA at the Four Nations tournament, the incendiary Tkachuk bros tried to start a riot on the ice. They were less brash after McDavid scored in OT to vanquish the Americans. McDavid is slated to lead Team Canada in the Winter Olympics. Canadian teams may not have won the Stanley Cup in more than three decades, but if I recall correctly, Team Canada has done OK at recent Olympic Games best-on-best tournaments, with three gold medals out of the last four such tournaments (2002, 2010 and 2014).
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Galal Yafai vs. Francisco Rodriguez Jr. preview: 'Great fight for the fans, not so good for myself'
The saying goes that comparison is the thief of joy, but you wouldn't know that from the look on Galal Yafai's face this week. The fresh-faced, beaming 32-year-old looked relaxed and composed at his final press conference on Thursday afternoon, edging closer to his 10th outing in a fast-moving professional boxing career. On Saturday night, live on DAZN, Yafai (9-0, 7 KOs) defends his WBC interim flyweight title against the experienced Mexican Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (39-6-1, 27 KOs) in front of a home Birmingham crowd. He does so while eyeing the next step in writing his own history as a fully-fledged world champion. Advertisement Since winning gold at the 2020 Olympic Games, Yafai has been compared to a litany of others in the sport. That list includes his older brothers Kal and Gamal, the stylistic technician that was the now-retired Vasyl Lomachenko, as well as fellow British Olympic gold medalists turned world champions Anthony Joshua and James DeGale. You could argue, easily, that it's a humbling group of fighters to be grouped with, but Yafai seems uninterested in such yardsticks. 'I don't want to be compared with anyone,' Yafai stated upon turning over into the pro ranks in 2022. Thrown into the relative deep end in a 10-rounder for his debut, the similarities between him and Lomachenko started, and they gained momentum when his southpaw style — accompanied by eye-catching front-footed flurries — started paying dividends against a plethora of challengers. 'I don't want to jump the gun too much and put myself in the same brackets as Lomachenko,' he claimed. 'To even be put in them brackets is so humbling, he's an unbelievable fighter that I've watched for years. Advertisement 'When I won the gold medal, I had people telling me I've joined greats who aren't even from Great Britain like Oscar De La Hoya, Pernell Whittaker, Muhammad Ali and all these fighters who have won Olympic gold. I'm not as good as them, but one thing we've all got in common is we're all Olympic champions and that's one thing that will live with me forever.' Fast-forward three years and Yafai is now just two fights away from becoming just the third male Briton to be crowned a world champion after winning an Olympic gold. Japanese star Kenshiro Teraji (25-1, 16 KOs) holds the full title at 112 pounds, and Yafai is targeting a return later this year to Japan — the site of his Olympic triumph — to challenge the champion monikered 'The Amazing Boy.' But Rodriguez Jr. is the man that stands in the way of Yafai and that dream, and Saturday's blend of styles suggests that we could be in for a memorable dust-up between two offensive protagonists. 'He's a great fighter, Rodriguez,' Yafai explained on Thursday. 'Anyone that knows him, he comes forward, I come forward. It should make for a great fight for the fans, not so good for myself and him. Advertisement 'Rodriguez should be my hardest fight, on paper. Let's hope it's not in reality on Saturday. I've had to fight Sunny [Edwards], who was number one with the Ring Magazine, then I've had to fight the WBC number one Rodriguez, and then I'll have to go to Japan probably and fight the pound-for-pound fighter who's got the WBC and WBA belts in Teraji. I've not had it easy, have I?' If Yafai is longing to be recognized by his own achievements in the sport, then a fire-fight victory over Rodriguez this weekend could go some way to laying those foundations. The further down the weight classes you ply your trade, the more pressure that is (unfairly) put on you to make sure you "entertain'" — and Yafai's smooth attacks crafted by heavy hands appear up to the task. He claims not to have had it the easy way, but fighters like Yafai wouldn't want it any other way.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Manny Pacquiao faces welterweight champ Mario Barrios, but his real challenge will be time
Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, left, and Mexican-American boxer Mario Barrios face off during the news conference ahead of their July 19 WBC welterweight title fight. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images) Mauricio Sulaiman smiled as he recalled the call during which a boxing legend asked him to challenge current welterweight champion Mario Barrios. The president of the World Boxing Council (WBC) did not think about it for a moment and immediately got to work to fulfill the request of the legendary Manny Pacquiao. Advertisement One of the most iconic and respected figures in boxing history is back. "It was a positive call, I told him I wanted to challenge the champion one more time and that I can still fight. He was happy to hear that," Pacquiao told L.A. Times en Español. Manny Pacquiao speaks about his boxing comeback at a news conference in Los Angeles on June 3. (Greg Beacham / Associated Press) Sulaiman fulfilled "PacMan's" wish and his bout against "Aztec Warrior" Barrios will be on July 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. 'He called me and said, 'Help me fulfill my dream of retiring with the WBC, which was where I started at flyweight,'' Sulaiman said. 'Manny's relationship with the WBC is decades old, we've been in very good times and we've been in difficult times and now that he needs support, we are here for him.' Advertisement Born into poverty in the Philippines, Pacquiao became the only boxer to win world titles in eight different divisions, from flyweight to super welterweight. He defeated Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. His explosive style, speed and charisma made him a global idol, especially in Asia and Latin America. In addition to being world champion in multiple bodies (WBC, WBA, WBO, WBO, IBF), he was recognized as 'Boxer of the Decade' by the Boxing Writers Assn. in 2010 and also developed a political career, becoming a senator in his country, which cemented his status as a national hero in the Philippines. During his career, Pacquiao has suffered eight losses and two draws, but his impressive 62 victories — 39 of them by knockout — earned him a place in the Boxing Hall of Fame. He is being inducted in Canastota, N.Y., on June 8. Read more: Rolando 'Rolly' Romero sends a message of peace to Ryan Garcia: 'Come closer to God' Advertisement The former champion has been welcomed by the boxing world with open arms, but with caution. Pacquiao claims his hand movements are just as quick as in his prime, but at 46, many doubt he is the same as before. In August 2021, Pacquiao lost a unanimous decision to Cuba's Yordenis Ugás in what was then his last fight before retirement. During the fight against Ugás, Pacquiao looked slow, unresponsive and in what seemed to be the twilight of his career. He said several issues caused his problems during the fight, among them, his political career, a lawsuit against him by his former promoter Paradigm Sports Management and muscle ailments that were further inflamed by a pre-fight massage. Pacquiao did say whether he will be around to face more of boxing's stars after his bout with Barrios. Advertisement "I'm still here, one at a time," Pacquiao said. "This is me, if there are changes in my fighting style, I have to listen to my body, my heart and if my mind is also there, then I will know if I'm done." Manny Pacquiao wears the champion's belt after defeating Brandon Rios during their WBO international welterweight title fight on Nov. 24, 2013, in Macau. (Vincent Yu / Associated Press) Since the announcement of his return, many have shown concern for what might happen to him in the ring against a younger and physically fit Barrios. "I appreciate that they are concerned, however, the only people I worry about is my family," Pacquiao said. "How I move, how I train, what kind of condition I'm in, they support me because they can still see the old Manny Pacquiao." Advertisement During his four-year absence from boxing, he was dedicated to his family and his country as a politician, but he said he remained active and in good physical condition, so he feels his return to the ring will not be difficult. 'At my home in the Philippines, I have my own training facility, with a gym, two basketball courts, everything — pickleball, badminton, table tennis,' Pacquiao said. 'Plus, I have a yard in the back of my house that's a kilometer long where I run.' Sixteen years separate Pacquiao and Barrios. Pacquiao made his professional debut in January 1995, Barrios was born just four months later. That bout will pit experience versus youth. Advertisement Read more: Jake Paul and Julio César Chávez Jr. question each other's skills ahead of Anaheim bout Barrios may have more elements in his favor, such as his height, as he stands 6-feet tall while Pacquiao is 5-foot-5. Barrios' reach is 71 inches, while Pacquiao's reach is 67 inches. 'I'm younger, I have youth on my side, he has the experience, but I have to go out there and use all that advantage, my height, my speed, my timing, if I do that I can come out on top.' Although the confirmation of the fight came as a surprise to many, Barrios was mentally prepared for the possibility. He knew that the return of a legend like Pacquiao was not an isolated rumor, but a latent option. Advertisement 'At first, I really couldn't believe it, but I had been told it could happen anytime in 2025,' recounted the San Antonio, Texas native, who has a record of 29 wins, two losses and one draw. "I thought the best thing to do was to be ready, in March I was told it could happen during the summer, then I felt it would definitely happen. He's a legend, he's achieved so much, but at the end of the day, he's a fighter who wants to take my title." Yordenis Ugas punches Manny Pacquiao during a welterweight championship boxing match on Aug. 21, 2021, in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) Pacquiao could have chosen a more accessible opponent for his comeback, someone who would allow him to regain his rhythm and confidence. But he chose Barrios, a champion in his prime. 'I don't know if it's an insult or complement,' Barrios reflected. 'The type of fight he brings to the ring is a lot of action, I have to be smart, I shouldn't let him succeed.' Advertisement While he respects Pacquiao's legacy, Barrios is determined to impose his own stamp on a historic evening. He is known for the way he arrives in the ring, accompanied by traditional Aztec dancers, as well as his colorful attire that represents his indigenous roots. Barrios hopes to continue with his traditional entrance, but he said the occasion calls for something special. 'It's going to be a very similar entry, always bringing the ... ancestral strength," Barrios said. "... I'm going to have all that, but we're going to do something even bigger." This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
