Being a woman in this industry has never been a challenge for me. I’ve always been a person who is going to do what they’re going to do.
Karen Bell tightly gripped the knife, its scalpel-sharp blade glinting in the light.
She moved forward and thrusted. She did it again. And again, slicing the knife through the flesh and the fat.
Then she picked up a handsaw. She found a spot, braced herself and rocked the blade back and forth, carving through bone.
When she finished, she was sweating and short of breath. But she smiled at her handiwork.
And then more than 100 people applauded.
Bell, a graduate of Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Culinary Arts program and a classically trained butcher, had just finished cutting and carving a whole, 70-pound lamb into an appetizing assortment of chops, shanks, roasts and steaks.
“Ever since I have been doing this, I have loved it,” said Bell, a nationally recognized chef who owns Bavette La Boucherie, a restaurant and provisions store in the city’s Third Ward neighborhood. “You start with one thing and you end up with all sorts of other things. It’s very gratifying.”
Bell demonstrated her considerable butchering skills at MATC on Tuesday, March 11. Nearly 100 Culinary Arts students and faculty watched Bell artfully slice away while explaining her methods and answering questions about her impressive career.
See more photos of Bell's demonstration
A native of Whitefish Bay, Bell was 15 when she started working as a waitress at Heinemann’s, a legendary Milwaukee-area restaurant chain. After graduating from MATC in 1998, she studied in Paris and then moved to Chicago, where she worked at several restaurants and learned the butcher business.
“I was interested in what many people thought was a dying craft,” she told the crowd.
She watched other butchers, including an old world artisan from Germany. She read books, watched videos and tried things out for herself. “I was always learning,” she said. “Even when I opened a restaurant I was always learning new things.”
Once trained, she worked in San Francisco for three years, and in 2003, headed to Madrid, Spain, where she opened her own restaurant specializing in Californian cuisine, and helped open a restaurant in Caracas, Venezuela.
After living abroad for six years, she returned to Milwaukee. In 2013, she opened Bavette, a modern take on an old-time butcher shop that included a restaurant.
In 2018, she was a finalist for the prestigious James Beard Foundation award for best chef in the Midwest. She also has been a semifinalist in 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Bell accomplished all that despite being a female in a mostly male field: In 2023, only 28% of all butchers and meat, poultry, and fish processing workers in the United States were women, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Being a woman in this industry has never been a challenge for me,” she said. “I’ve always been a person who is going to do what they’re going to do. Having my own place helps. It’s more of a challenge being a mom. Time has become more precious.”
“I feel pretty fortunate that I have had the experience I have had,” she added. “I had the mentality that I can do whatever they’re doing. That I can do it better and that I’ll show them.”
The number of butchers in the United States is projected to decline in the next decade, labor statistics showed, but there will be job openings as older butchers retire or leave the field.
“Hard work and hard work,” said Bell when asked how to succeed in the culinary business. “Being flexible. You need to stay your course and stay true to your core values, but also be ready and willing to change. Maybe some luck.”
“You need to love it or really, really enjoy it,” she added. “For me, every day is a challenge, but that’s why I love what I do.”
Learn more about MATC’s Culinary Arts program
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.