n TASTE
GUTS AND GLORY
Demand for locally and responsibly sourced food has helped revive the butcher shop
BY Daniel Barnes PHOTOS: Fred Greaves
D
Paul Carras (left) and Danny Johnson (right), of Taylor’s Market, were part of
the six-person American team in the 2018 World Butchers’ Challenge.
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comstocksmag.com | August 201 8
anny Johnson knew it was over the
second he saw that softball-shaped
lump of hamburger. Under the hot
lights of the stage, amid flashing camer-
as and raucous cheers from the Belfast
crowd, one of Johnson’s teammates at the
2018 World Butchers’ Challenge forgot
to press their ground beef into an actual
patty before time expired. As the judg-
es approached, that giant ball of meat
seemed like the only thing standing be-
tween the American team and glory.
This was the first time a team of
American meat-cutters competed in this
global event, which started between two
countries in 2011, and has since expanded
to 12 countries and counting. The theme
of the American team’s display was “sus-
tainability.” The growing popularity of
the self-proclaimed “Greatest Butchery
Event on Earth” seems to mirror a rising
international interest in locally, ethically
and sustainably sourced food.
“We often say that chefs have become
the rock stars of the culinary world, and
we believe that butchers deserve to be
right up there with them,” says Ashley
Hall, chief executive of the World Butch-
ers’ Challenge Council.
Johnson, who owns Taylor’s Market
in Sacramento’s Land Park neighbor-
hood, rejects the rock star label — he’s
just living the dream of a little boy from
rural Placer County. In the 1960s, when
the town of Newcastle was still a major
fruit shipping center, the young Johnson
would accompany his grandfather on
packing runs from a nearby farm. Across
the street from the packing house was a
small neighborhood butcher shop and