[Sca-cooks] It's in the New York Times, so it must be true...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

> I can see the slogans: "Chef's knives don't kill people, chefs kill  
> people!" "They can pry my chef's knife from my cold, dead fingers!"  
> "When chef's knives are outlawed, only outlaws will be chefs!" and  
> last, but not least, "The American Culinary Federation: We do our  
> part!"

Adamantius

> May 27, 2005
> British Medical Experts Campaign for Long, Pointy Knife Control
> By JOHN SCHWARTZ
>
> Warning: Long, pointy knives may be hazardous to your health.
>
> The authors of an editorial in the latest issue of the British  
> Medical Journal have called for knife reform. The editorial,  
> "Reducing knife crime: We need to ban the sale of long, pointed  
> kitchen knives," notes that the knives are being used to stab  
> people as well as roasts and the odd tin of Spam.
>
> The authors of the essay - Drs. Emma Hern, Will Glazebrook and Mike  
> Beckett of the West Middlesex University Hospital in London -  
> called for laws requiring knife manufacturers to redesign their  
> wares with rounded, blunt tips.
>
> The researchers noted that the rate of violent crime in Britain  
> rose nearly 18 percent from 2003 to 2004, and that in the first two  
> weeks of 2005, 15 killings and 16 nonfatal attacks involved  
> stabbings. In an unusual move for a scholarly work, the researchers  
> cited a January headline from The Daily Express, a London tabloid:  
> "Britain is in the grip of knives terror - third of murder victims  
> are now stabbed to death." Dr. Hern said that "we came up with the  
> idea and tossed it into the pot" to get people talking about crime  
> reduction. "Whether it's a sensible solution to this problem or  
> not, I'm not sure."
>
> In the United States, where people are more likely to debate gun  
> control than knife control, partisans on both sides sounded amused.  
> Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle  
> Association, asked, "Are they going to have everybody using plastic  
> knives and forks and spoons in their own homes, like they do in  
> airlines?"
>
> Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun  
> Violence, which supports gun control, joked, "Can sharp stick  
> control be far behind?" He said people in his movement were  
> "envious" of England for having such problems. "In America, we  
> can't even come to an agreement that guns are dangerous and we  
> should make them safer," he said.
>
> The authors of the editorial argued that the pointed tip is a  
> vestigial feature from less mannered ages, when people used it to  
> spear meat. They said that they interviewed 10 chefs in England,  
> and that "none gave a reason why the long, pointed knife was  
> essential," though short, pointed knives were useful.
>
> An American chef, however, disagreed with the proposal. "This is  
> yet another sign of the coming apocalypse," said Anthony Bourdain,  
> the executive chef at Les Halles and the author of "Kitchen  
> Confidential."
>
> A knife, he said, is a beloved tool of the trade, and not a thing  
> to be shaped by bureaucrats. A chef's relationship with his knives  
> develops over decades of training and work, he said, adding, "Its  
> weight, its shape - these are all extensions of our arms, and in  
> many ways, our personalities."
>
> He compared the editorial to efforts to ban unpasteurized cheese.  
> "Where there is no risk," he said, "there is no pleasure."





"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04