Welsh Craft Butcher of the Year returns for 2024
The Welsh Craft Butcher of the Year final will be held at the Welsh International Culinary Championships (WICC), taking place from 22nd-24th January 2024 at the International Convention Centre Wales (ICC Wales), Newport.
The free event will be open to the public as well as the hospitality trade, with the contest open to Welsh butchers aged 16 and over.
Sponsored by the Culinary Association of Wales (CAW) and Cambrian Training Company, contestants may be employed or studying for a qualification in a college or establishment anywhere in the world.
During the competition, butchers will be asked to undertake two tasks to showcase their skills to the judges from the Craft Butchery Team Wales. The first task will be to cut a whole lamb into primal joints, as well as clean their work area in 30 minutes, while the second task will see contestants have one hour and 20 minutes to produce a “visually exciting” display to merchandise the meat.
The 2023 champion butcher was Adam Jones from Swans Farm Shop, Treuddyn. He said: “I left school with the minimum qualifications and now I am one of the best in Wales at my trade. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I left school and butchery was my last chance to make something of my life.
“Three of my siblings have gone to university, but I chose butchery and it was the best decision of my life.”
Arwyn Watkins OBE, CAW president and Cambrian Training Company’s executive chairman, said: “The Welsh Craft Butcher of the Year competition provides the perfect platform for the best butchers in Wales of all ages to showcase their skills.
“It’s a huge honour to be named the best in Wales at your chosen vocation and this will be a chance to watch highly skilled butchers demonstrating their skills and meat display techniques.”
Organised by the CAW, the 2024 WICC will also be holding National and Junior Chef of Wales, Green Chef of the Year and a wide range of WICC skills classes as well as hosting the Skills Competition Wales hospitality finals. Entries for WICC classes will close on Monday 15th January 2024 and the competition will end with an awards dinner on Wednesday 24th January.
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