On Cutting Boards

I must confess, I don't understand all the fuss that is made about cutting boards lately. Nowadays, we have wooden cutting boards, glass cutting boards, plastic cutting boards, and even cutting boards made of bamboo! Everyone and their mom has a cutting board! Chances are, if you ask your grandma what you can do to help with preparing Sunday dinner, she'll first ask you to chop potatoes and after that, she'll get out a knife and a cutting board for you to use.

It's true, even I have a cutting board. Two, in fact; one of glass and one of bamboo. They rarely see the light of day, however, stashed as they are beneath my stack of wire cooling racks and cookie sheets. When I need to chop an onion, a tomato or some thawed chicken breasts, a plate is a good enough cutting surface for the likes of me! I feel no need to take the extra steps involved in digging up a cutting board and, after cutting the food into appropriately sized pieces, washing and drying an extra dish which is as wide and long as my entire dish rack.

No, a plate works perfectly fine for me. I understand not wanting to cut directly on your counter--that is a very wise thing to do. It's easier always to replace a plate or a cutting board than a countertop. Still, why do we have this cultural norm that the "safe" and "normal" way of ingredient-chopping takes place on a cutting board? While a cutting board may be convenient in some homes for some food situations, it is hardly the catch-all answer for everyone who's ever wanted to slice an apple or a cucumber.

The other day, I was chopping up sweet potatoes for a casserole using my large chopping knife and a plate, as is my habit. My cousin was spending the day with me and she eyed me nervously as I chopped the first potato, "Umm, Rachel, don't you want to use a cutting board?"

Noticing her clear discomfort with the situation, I gave in to her wishes, dragged my cutting board out of the depths of the cupboard and finished chopping my potatoes on that. The use of cutting boards is such a deeply ingrained cultural norm that those who have grown up under it's influence are very uncomfortable when they see this rule being flouted. However, I say that this norm need not persist! There is no reason why we should be confined to cutting solely on cutting boards purely because membership in society dictates it. Fellow vegetable choppers, throw off the chains society has placed about you! Be free of the cutting board standard! Dare to chop differently! Be free!

Note: I haven't cut myself while vegetable chopping since May, at the very least. And that one was only a flesh wound.