[Warning: this post involves sensitive imagery of out-of-season veggies]
Did you know that one the most dangerous things in your kitchen is a DULL knife?
Not only is it dangerous, it’s downright hazardous to your emotional state.
Observe: There you are making a most gorgeous salad. Fresh greens, the perfect avocado, a sprinkling of feta…
You take hold of the tomato that you know is going to be dee-lish. Gently, lovingly, you lay the blade of your knife against the taut skin of the dark heirloom red, already seeing wedges of perfect thickness—not too thin, not too thick.
You pull the knife toward you anticipating a slice of tomato falling to the board… but, nothing. The skin is not even punctured.
You take another pass and press harder. Nothing.
Pressing yet harder, the side of the tomato begins to collapse! Frustrated, you start a clumsy sawing motion.
This does the trick of cutting the tomato but you end up with ungraceful, jagged cuts and juice leaking a stream across the cutting board, to the edge, and then obeying the relentless laws of gravity, flows down the front of the cabinet in a dribbly mess.
ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
It’s all over!
The tomato is a disaster.
Your good mood has turned sour.
Conversation spoils into an edgy staccato.
It’s not pretty—all because of a dull knife.
Sound silly or extreme? Maybe it is—but not by much…
The underlying issue here is understanding what kind of experience you want to be having.
If you love cooking, then a fluid, satisfying experience in the kitchen will either be supported or derailed by inadequate tools. It’s that simple.
Let Spring Cleaning this year be an opportunity to acknowledge the “dull knives” in your space. Being mindful of your experience will alert you to items that need to be replaced or serviced.
There’s just no need to deprive you or your salad of scrumptious tomato wedges.