Has your diet improved since being a knife nut?

Nice knives required cutting things to enjoy them. Usually when you cut things, it's fruits, veggies, meat, cheese, etc... essentially real, non-processed foods. Someone who wants to use their knives a lot would need to be cutting lots of these items.

Quick survey to the community:
Have you noticed an increase in your fruit and vegetable consumption once you started getting into high quality kitchen knives? Has your diet improved?

Funny you mention that because I was thinking this the other day...since expanding the knife collection a little bit I've been dismembering more veggies and eating much more greens. I've also been making fruit salads (read: patination procedure)

My knives are only used at work. I rarely ever cook at home.

I certainly eat a lot more onions.

Chef_ said:

My knives are only used at work. I rarely ever cook at home.

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I was going to say, unfortunately I don't think getting into knives has much of an impact on the diet/choice of after work meals for those using them professionally :lol2:

Chef_ said:

My knives are only used at work. I rarely ever cook at home.

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Why is that?

DanDan said:

I was going to say, unfortunately I don't think getting into knives has much of an impact on the diet/choice of after work meals for those using them professionally :lol2:

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Just wondering if working as a cook reduces your interest in cooking for yourself at home, and if so why.

Other way around; I got into cooking at home using Wusthofs and old Sabatiers with little to no knowledge of sharpening, then became a professional cook, then got good knives for work. I wish I had known then what I know now!

Khorax said:

Just wondering if working as a cook reduces your interest in cooking for yourself at home, and if so why.

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Well, line cooking is a tiring job, and when i get home at 1 in the morning i dont really want to start preparing meals.

oh my god yes. i have never had so many carrots in my life.

also to piggy back the last thing you want to do after cooking all day is come home and cook. i eat a lot of cereal during those times. and go out to eat more. times in between jobs i cook my ass off. kinda sad actually.

Khorax said:

Just wondering if working as a cook reduces your interest in cooking for yourself at home, and if so why.

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For me, it's time constraints rather than lack of interest. You also get spoiled working in a commercial kitchen with an endless supply of equipment and space. That being said, I get the most satisfaction cooking for just my Wife and myself.

I've must've eaten more stir fries and salads in the last year than in my previous 32 combined.

DamageInc said:

I certainly eat a lot more onions.

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This reminds me: also, more Hungarian food since pretty much every Hungarian recipe starts with "First, saute the finely diced onions."

Unequivocally yes. As my skill in processing veg has improved, I incorporate more veg into my diet. Brunoise of some veg that kids typically avoid also bulks out braises and pasta sauces, so more stuff is getting into the kids too.

Dunno... it puts rich, layered, saucy, caloric stuff in easier reach... that isn't always a good thing

Besides cutting/ chopping vegetables, my knives also excel at slicing cheeses, charcuterie and pork shoulders. I'll leave it at that...


:dancecool:

Cool. Well with the tiny sample size of people who responded so far, there is a positive correlation between having sweet knives and an increase in healthy eating habits. So next time someone gives you flak for your crazy collection, say it is benefiting your health and that of you family.

Still would love to hear other people chime in.

i never ate out much anyways..and i have ALWAYS love kitchen cutlery and pans. still love my old german knives even tho in this crowd they are reserved for the nasty cuts..like winter squashes..

i still dont have a knife for every occasion. like i wont switch blades like i suspect you all do..mine is lazy..it's out, it's used.

so, i would say, knives (and pans) encouraged me to cook as a 20 year old. maybe late teens. i saved my money and bought a wustof chef knife for my dorm room.. still have it..

i'm plain healthier since i do my own cooking..i couldnt live the life of a busy parent..buying the rotiserrie chicken and veggies of the steam table of a grocery store to feed kids just cus i am tired..

Don't know if the diet has changed much but I find that having better knives makes me want to use them more. I spent 3 hours yesterday dicing 10 kg of tomatoes and a similar amount of mirepoix vegetables to make 15 litres of pasta sauce and it was a pleasure. Don't know if I would have been super keen to be handling my old knives for that length of time.

And yeah, after cooking all day at work I never cook at home during the week. Weekends are a different story; I'll happily spend all Saturday cooking. Prepping, cooking and then canning the pasta sauce yesterday took about 10 hours start to finish and I also cooked a bolognese sauce for Saturday night's dinner and a roast vegetable soup for Sunday night while I was on a roll.

I am lazy to cooking home

Definitely. I find that when I'm feeling extra lazy to cook, I'll use a knife that I maybe don't use too often, and it kinda gives me that extra little bit of motivation/excitement I need.

Khorax said:

Has your diet improved?

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I am not quite sure, but I do not have to chew so much as before

Matus said:

I am not quite sure, but I do not have to chew so much as before

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This.

I also have more fun making it than before.

I have been in the kitchen so long I cant remember life without it, I will say, being close to nice pieces has increased my desire to cook, for the most part anything that is made at home/yourself tends to be healthier.... so the answer is yes!

I eat more cucumbers at home now?