Not Cutting It

Hi everyone, it’s Karen here, and I was embarrassingly old by the time I understood the value of a good kitchen knife. There is a story behind my coming to this realization, and I’d like to share it with you, with the hopes of saving someone else from years of ignorance about kitchen knives.  

I didn’t learn how to cook until after I graduated from college (weird, I know, I was a dietetics major for crying out loud). Over time, I did teach myself how to cook, but I never paid much attention to the tools I was using, especially my knives. When I got married, someone even gifted me a nice butcher block full of knives and they sat mostly unused on the counter for years. 

It wasn’t until I started working with my colleague, Vanessa Oliver, that I learned about the importance of a good knife (she has a culinary background and is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to cooking). I finally invested in a decent chef’s knife, and I was honestly stunned by the difference it made. Cutting through an onion or pepper felt so easy and effortless! Life in the kitchen went on awesomely from there…

At some point down the road, I was visiting my mom in New York and helping her in the kitchen. I was tasked with chopping up vegetables and used what looked her primary kitchen knife (an old steak knife that was too small and dull for the task). Whoa! It felt like I had gone back in time to before I purchased my fancy chef’s knife. Frustrated with the extra effort and time that knife was causing me, I asked my mom if she had any other knives. Nope. As tactfully as possible, I asked if she might be interested in some new knives. Nope. She was “used to” her knives and didn’t want new ones. 

But lo and behold, during a visit a couple years later, I spotted a shiny new chef’s knife in Mom’s knife drawer. I was so excited (partly for myself, but mostly for Mom!) I secretly told myself that it must have been what I said to her a couple years earlier that prompted her to buy it 😉 Whatever the reason, I hope it makes her life in the kitchen easier and more enjoyable, just like it did mine.