Frank Pace smiles proudly from behind a tall glass case filled with fine cuts of meat, hand-stuffed sausage and house-made country pate on display at Healthy Living Market in South Burlington.
Pace, the butcher at Healthy Living, is a vivacious man, who obviously loves his work and takes pride in his profession. He grewup in southern Vermont in a family that slaughtered pigs and chickens, which sparked a life-long desire to work with fresh, local animals. He was later trained as a professional chef and worked for years in busy kitchens creating menus that included mainstream and lesser-known meat-based dishes.
Eventually, Pace decided that he wanted to learn more about working with whole animals, and this required a temporary job change. He took a position as the pro duce manager at Shelburne Supermarket, which is where he got to know his mentors — Jim Blaise (meat manager) and Joe St. Amour (head meat cutter). Over the course of a year, Blaise and St. Amour taught him to work as a butcher with whole animals including lamb, beef, pork and chicken.
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