Philippe Lalande fell into it when he was little. “My father told me ‘you will be a butcher'” he remembers. Philippe embarks on an apprenticeship with his father at the age of 14 in a butcher’s shop in Sarlat. Cutting meat wasn’t his thing at first. “I rather wanted to do an artistic, creative job: the job of woodworking or jewellery” explains the 62-year-old man. He was a butcher on rue Limogeanne in Périgueux before retiring two years ago.
The art butcher
At 33, Philippe wins the prize for best worker in France. He framed and hung his diploma at home, amidst his other awards. It was this competition that encouraged him to continue in art butchery. “Nerve work, horn work, gelatin work: all those things that can lead us to do beautiful things” expose the butcher.
The 2022 World Cup in sight
Philippe hung up the apron and the butcher’s knife two years ago. He keeps all his paraphernalia in his garage in Boulazac, on the block of his adolescence. Today, Philippe Lalande trains the French butchery team, there are eight in the team, six holders and two substitutes. A final training is scheduled in Brive on August 7th before the competition.
The Périgourdin is challenging its title of world meat decoration champion, won in 2018, on September 2 and 3, in Sacramento, California in the United States. During the competition, he takes care of the dressage and the decorations of the meat of the buffet of the event.