Joshua Cunico

Skill: Butchery
Region: Sydney West, NSW
Training Provider: TAFE Grambille
Employer: Joe Papandrea Quality Meats
Mentor: Andrew Morabito

Joshua came to study butchery out of a love for agriculture and farming, and a desire to learn more about the workings of the meat industry. He began his apprenticeship with Joe Papandrea Quality Meats in 2015, and is due to complete his apprenticeship early on the 30th of June 2017 – the same day he heads to the UK.

There Jordan will also be working in a retail butcher shop, but he is expecting the way the shops are run and types of products made to be quite different. He wants to gain an understanding of the agricultural nature of the meat industry in Europe and how it compares to Australia.

“I came second in WorldSkills; it was a good experience. Every day you had a different animal to work on. You had to break it up and cut it to their specifications, display it and make products. I came first in a speed test making sausages as well as a hindquarter skills challenge where we had to break up a hindquarter of beef.”

Fast facts

  • You wish you had: “An unlimited supply of bikes and cars to drive all day.”
  • One thing that most people don’t know about you: “I enjoy life on the farm.”
  • The best UK saying that you know: “Would you like some tea and scones?”