OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile
Billie Fulford-Brown’s inviting, friendly narration quickly draws listeners into the world of high-end steaks in this memoir about coming-of-age as a woman in the male-dominated field of butchery. Her measured yet easygoing tone perfectly captures Wragg’s enthusiasm for the trade, as well as the pain and confusion of her youthful missteps. Wragg’s analysis of sexism in butchery is surface level at best, as is her examination of the challenges facing the meat industry at large. But her struggle to reconcile the career she wants with the career she thinks she should want will resonate with those who have ever been unsure of themselves. Anecdotes of her time behind the block, combined with Fulford-Brown’s engaging narration, make this an entertaining, though not revelatory, listen. L.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
06/10/2019
This debut memoir of a woman launching her career as a butcher offers a solid behind-the-curtain look at the meat industry. Twenty-six-year-old Wragg learned to butcher when she was hired as a teen at a farm shop in Derbyshire, England. Despite assuming that this was not a job for a woman, she “felt important, and trusted” when holding a knife on her first day, and quickly became desperate to learn more. In a business where women “are still the surprise, still the minority,” Wragg dealt with sexual harassment and a culture of male butchers reluctant to share their knowledge with her. She confronts realities of butchering (“Standing in front of an actual beef carcass... can be overwhelming, sometimes terrifying”), details the kill floor of slaughterhouses (“Butchers worked in a line of one hundred, breaking down carcasses and passing the meat on to a packing team”), and describes the meat industry in general (“It’s always changing, and in most cases, isn’t very profitable”). In sidebars, Wragg includes recipes, guides to knives and dry aging, and glossaries of cuts of beef and types of cattle. Foodies will appreciate Wragg’s honest take on the evolving world of butchery. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
This debut memoir offers a solid behind-the-scenes look at the meat industry […] Foodies will appreciate Wragg’s honest take on the evolving world of butchery.” — Publishers Weekly
OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile
Billie Fulford-Brown’s inviting, friendly narration quickly draws listeners into the world of high-end steaks in this memoir about coming-of-age as a woman in the male-dominated field of butchery. Her measured yet easygoing tone perfectly captures Wragg’s enthusiasm for the trade, as well as the pain and confusion of her youthful missteps. Wragg’s analysis of sexism in butchery is surface level at best, as is her examination of the challenges facing the meat industry at large. But her struggle to reconcile the career she wants with the career she thinks she should want will resonate with those who have ever been unsure of themselves. Anecdotes of her time behind the block, combined with Fulford-Brown’s engaging narration, make this an entertaining, though not revelatory, listen. L.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
