Why the Hutzler Banana Slicer?

Why is it that this item…

…is one of the ones that manages to garner a slew of hysterical, entertaining Amazon.com reviews? Amazon sells millions of different items? Why is this (or a Three Wolf Moon shirt, or Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz) one of the favored items, and other equally worthy products are not?

This is a serious question. Because I just bought one of the damned things.

Moe Lane

Via AoSHQ Headlines.

11 thoughts on “Why the Hutzler Banana Slicer?”

  5. Serious question deserves a serious answer. There will always be a group of people who do not like kitchen utensils they would call “gadgets”. I am on of those people, but I certainly could care less what other people like or find useful in their cooking.

    The group of people I speak of would be those who grew up exposed to “classic” cooking techniques; some would call this French technique, others would call it good ol’ American know how.

    For this group, a “gadget” would be something designed to do a very small number of tasks that could easily be accomplished with basic cooking utensils such as a chef’s knife, a frying pan, or tongs. An example of a gadget is the microwave omelette maker. Someone with some training could just make an omelette in a pan, so why own a gadget that will TAKE UP SPACE (key argument against them) if it is no necessary.

    So that is basically why some will ridicule gadgets. They A) are not required for the task at hand if you have technique, and they B) take up kitchen space because they are not required.

    To me, a banana colored and shaped utensil that only does one thing, slice bananas, make no sense to own because I can slice bananas with my knife and cutting board. On the other hand, something like an automatic citrus juicer is vital because I don’t want to hand squeeze oranges, and do it poorly, when I screwdriver is needed quickly.

    If someone wants a gadget for slicing bananas, more power to them. I have an apple slicer/coarer I did not buy, but use once in a while, mainly because it is there.

    bon appetite Moe 🙂

  7. Why does any internet meme start, Moe? Someone sees something funny and, if there’s a place to comment, it gets called out…. and if people like what’s written, and there’s a feedback system to *tell* the writer “good show!”, the writer may look for other topics…

    Mew

    p.s. how else did we get this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PdsS01iUZs

  8. Doc:
    Alton Brown (aka “Mr. Wizard Only For Cooking”) calls these “mono-taskers”. I believe the only mono-tasker he makes an allowance for in the kitchen is a fire extinguisher.

  9. Thanks a lot Moe, now I am getting banana slicer ads all over the place! I think I will trademark a banana slicer cleaning device and make some bank! You know, the used slicer’s go for as low as 18 cents, maybe I start an “estate” slicer refurbishment service.

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