The world of Cortadores de Jamon wears pink: 23-year-old prodigy slicer speaks.
The News
The best ham slicer in Spain is female and very young. Rocío Pérez, at just 23 years old, has been crowned queen of the Concurso Nacional de Cortadores de Jamón Dehesa de Extremadura, now in its 30th year. Fascinated by her father who used to cut hams in the family bar, Rocío approached the world of cortador de jamon from a young age. Growing up, she began experimenting with the art of cutting first with shoulder, then with hams, perfecting an impeccable technique. “Although it's not easy, this year I was lucky enough to win the Dehesa de Extremadura cortador contest held at Ifema; it's one of the most important at the moment,” she tells Siete Canibales. Although “the pink share” among cortadores de jamon still stands at only around 30 percent of professionals, the number of women entering this world and holding prominent positions is growing steadily.
Each of them came to ham cutting in a different way and with different paths behind them as much as fascinating. “In my generation we came to the profession by being the wife, daughter, sister of an hotelier or owner of a store or meat industry. Now there are many women who choose this work independently in search of a professional outlet,", says Paqui Muñoz, part of the board of ANJC (National Association of Ham Cutters) since 2017. Paqui first became passionate about cutting hams while running a grocery store with her husband. From the first slice it was immediately love, so she studied and, to this day, continues to deepen her knowledge. Just on the importance of training she says, “Right now there are many SEPE courses that are mediocre, many of them online and with bad information. This is a pending issue for our association, which organizes training events but has no real school. The only way to learn is by destroying lots of hams, which are bought cheaply in factories, even those unfit for consumption. The more you cut, the more you acquire skills in slice quality and plating."
Attention to detail, aesthetics and greater communication skills seem to be precisely the winning weapons of female cutters. Miriam Lopez, founder of Jamon Lovers, an independent platform specializing in the world of ham, knows this well. "The number of women has increased significantly in recent years, especially thanks to some cortadores who use their social networks a lot, becoming reference points for young girls. There has been a great evolution in the figure of cortadores. It's no longer just a matter of technique, cutting and presentation of the product, you also have to know how to communicate," she explains.
In Raquel Acosta's case, however, it was her passion for cooking that led her to this world. After studying cooking and gastronomy, Raquel moved to Salamanca, where she began working in a grocery store. The owner, a Spanish champion among the Cortadores de Jamon, made her fall in love with this profession so, over the years she traveled all over the world to continue honing technique and knowledge. Today, after a 12-year career, she has founded a company that organizes events, provides services to restaurants, caterers and imparts training. Last year she was, as well, in charge of ham service in the VIP lounges of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, employing 25 slicers. "People like to see a woman cortador; for my projects I started training women, I like to propose a figure with a particular look, without jackets, dresses, hostess-type uniforms, with a more modern look. We women pay attention to the little things: that the uniform is not wrinkled, clean a little piece of the table that got dirty..., “ she stresses.
In the case of Luz Maria Zamorano, however, the world of the Cortadores was revealed when the desire to change her life and leave her job as a waitress to open something of her own was born in her. The beginning was not so simple; in 2016, when she first entered the profession, there were no specialized training centers in Cuenca, where she lived, so she spent time in Badajoz and began experimenting in restaurants in Cuenca and in Barcelona with Juan Robles. She then qualified to teach professionally in ham training and culture and now continues to travel the world to cut the best hams. “It's a very male-dominated world, but I've always been well received. I don't think there is a different way of working between men and women, if anything there may be a different touch in decoration or presentation. We are neat, delicate, but a man can be exactly the same way and with the same elegance,", she confides.
"I always talk about people there are no differences based on gender. Now, a woman who cuts well, who has elegance, delicacy, attracts more, but that doesn't prevent men from having the same qualities as well. Contributing that feminine side is a complement. In any job if there are only men or only women it is incomplete," Maria Lopez concludes.
