By Callum Ludwig
A long-running family business in Seville has been recognised for its top-quality produce.
Seville Butchers won first prize for its ham on the bone and chicken, cheese and spinach sausage, took the runner-up spot for its bacon, beef sausage and kabana and third for its pork suasage in the Melbourne category of the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) awards.
Natasha Venizelos is part of the fourth generation of the family at the Seville Butchers and said her family and the team felt really good after receiving the awards.
“A lot of different tips and tricks of the trade have been handed down over the years and we use a lot of the older, more traditional forms of butchering, which I think is part of why we won,” she said.
“I think the other big part is that we use as much local produce as we can local from the Yarra Valley. Our ham on the bone, for example, comes from Yarra Valley Gin Pigs [Yarra Valley Berkshires] in Dixon’s Creek, our beef comes from Smith and Jackson near there as well and our lamb from Yeringberg. We’ve k made all these connections with the farmers to have free-range pasture-fed produce and meat that’s from the Yarra Valley.”
Apprentice at Seville Butchers Cody Brasser also recently competed in an apprentice of the year competition, so the future of quality meats in Seville is secure.
Ms Venizelos said they have an amazing team around them at the Seville Butchers,
“It’s important to have that sense of community you get from employing people from the community, and it’s really important to be a big fan of shopping local wherever possible and supporting all the small businesses in the town,” she said.
“My brother has gone on to become one of the main butchers now, and he learned from my grandfather. My mum has also been in the business her whole life, taking over from my grandparents Ken and Dorothy Stewart when I was one and now I’m 34.”
With Christmas coming, a good quality local butcher is a great community asset to have. Seville Butchers are taking Christmas orders until 14 December, in-store or online.
