France is looking for a new generation of artisan butchers.

You might not know it, but being a butcher is an important and well respected job in France. No machinery can pay as close attention to detail as a human butcher, making the job one of extreme delicacy and high esteem.

Because of a shortage of good butchers, the Île-de-France region just held its apprentice butcher competition, to find the best of all the up and coming butchers in the area.

“There’s a level of skill to achieve. One animal is never identical to another,” said Patrick Paulmier, a butchery teacher. “One day is never like the next.”

After the regional competition, the winner will go on to compete in a national competition to see who is the best up and coming butcher in the whole of France.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Tas-l8zZc&w=560&h=315]