A few months after I graduated college, I got a job as a prep cook at a French restaurant, where I learned that snails come in cans and if you spill a tray of 12-hour braised duck confit on the floor, it’s kind of a big deal. But one good thing came from this experience: I met the love of my life, aka the Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peeler. Before the fall of 2017, I was only familiar with straight swivel peelers. I never gave vegetable peelers a second thought. It was one of many essential kitchen tools in my culinary tool belt that I’d reach for to make skinless mashed potatoes, butternut squash soup, or apple pie. But it was never something that I would, say, bring to my grandparents’ house to use on Thanksgiving (eventually, I just bought them their own).
Until one day, Maria, the kind dishwasher who I am forever indebted to, saw me struggle to peel a 40 lb box of potatoes for our hand-cut frites. The stainless steel peeler that I was using had a swivel blade that was on its last leg and I had blisters from the uncomfortable handle. She winked at me and pulled a banana-colored peeler from the front pocket on her chef’s coat. “Mama, here,” she said to me. “Oh gracias!” I replied, not knowing what to make of her generosity. That is, until I started to peel. The fluid, sharp motion of the blade hitting the vegetables, and the large surface area that it covered, was mind-boggling. I saw the words “Kuhn Rikon” molded into the candy-colored plastic handle and I immediately ordered four.
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