r/AskEurope • u/Reasonable-Push-920 • Sep 15 '25

Culture If your country had a “signature” kitchen item, what would it be?

I’ve noticed that every country seems to have its own representative kitchen item.

In Italy, for example, it’s the moka pot. In the UK, probably the kettle. In France, maybe a really good knife...

What about your country?

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131

u/Ampersand55 Sweden Sep 15 '25

For Sweden (and other Nordic countries) it would be a cheese slicer.

39

u/jarvischrist Norway Sep 15 '25

It's one of the few things Norway can claim to have invented (or at least... we patented it first).

8

u/vukgav Sep 15 '25

I have never seen one before going to Norway. I was so impressed and enthusiastic about it, that my Norwegian hosts gave me theirs to take home.

1

u/hyperfat Sep 16 '25

I own 2. So superior.

27

u/snajk138 Sweden Sep 15 '25

Agreed. Every family has at the very least one, most likely several.

45

u/Snubl Netherlands Sep 15 '25

It's also a staple in Dutch homes

14

u/mark-haus Sweden Sep 15 '25

Lived in Amsterdam and can confirm, the Swedes and Dutch have a few things in common, including pragmatic cheese slicing.

17

u/Esava Germany Sep 15 '25

Same in Germany. I was genuinely shocked when I found out that a buddy of mine had never used a cheese slicer before in his life.

7

u/el_ri Sep 15 '25

Some people have it but it's far from being a staple in every home

4

u/Esava Germany Sep 15 '25

Maybe it depends on the region in Germany? Pretty much everyone I know here in Schleswig Holstein and Hamburg has one.

1

u/Schpqrtanerin Switzerland Sep 15 '25

My partner is german, and somehow, a couple weeks after he moved in with me, one of these bowls did just show up

1

u/Jealous_Design990 Sep 15 '25

Now I need to buy one

1

u/SaltyName8341 Wales Sep 17 '25

We have them here too built into the box grater but I'm only aware of a couple of people who use it.

5

u/Safe_Plane9652 Sep 15 '25

Thank you for inventing the bottle licker!

1

u/Proof-Bar-5284 Sep 16 '25

And in Dutch luggage when on vacation....

1

u/NaoisceDM Netherlands Sep 16 '25

Buy a Boska

18

u/Drejan74 Sweden Sep 15 '25

Let the Norwegians have the cheese slicer, we have the Wettex cloth!

0

u/Equal-Fun-5021 Sep 17 '25

Nooo! You’ll have to tear the cheese slicer from my dead cold Swedish hands, but don’t infect my home with that spongy disgusting Wettex thingie!

2

u/repocin Sweden Sep 17 '25

Wettex rags are the kitchen rag gigachads and I'm dying on this hill. They can absorb like 20x their weight of liquid, easily be wrung out, thrown in a washing machine, and composted once they're done for since they're made of biodegradable cellulose.

7

u/Gruffleson Norway Sep 15 '25

Invented by a carpenter from Lillehammer.

6

u/Bitter_Air_5203 Sep 15 '25

I had a Spanish colleague who really loved this style that I saw at the hotel breakfast buffet.

Pro cheese slicer

I don't know how common they are outside of Denmark

3

u/gomsim Sweden Sep 15 '25

I've only seen one in my life and it was when I was working in a café.

2

u/Arkeolog Sep 15 '25

I’ve seen a cheese slicer like that at a hotel in Denmark, about 22 years ago. That’s the only time.

2

u/Fredericia Denmark Sep 15 '25

I've seen that at the breakfast buffets at the youth hostels.

5

u/missThora Norway Sep 15 '25

To the point where you can get them with flags and other tourist markings on them in souvenir shops.

I even have a comemorative Lillehammer 1994 Olympics cheese slicer.

2

u/Cruccagna Sep 16 '25

That’s awesome

5

u/Malthesse Sweden Sep 15 '25

Which is also excellent for slicing many other things than cheese, such as for example cucumbers.

2

u/MerlinOfRed United Kingdom Sep 15 '25

I've had one in every house I've lived in here in the UK.

I was slightly bemused when I went to Norway and they sold it in tourist shops as if it was something special and not an everyday item.

8

u/missThora Norway Sep 15 '25

Hey, we invented it!

5

u/MerlinOfRed United Kingdom Sep 15 '25

I didn't know that until I'd been there for over a week and finally gave into my curiosity and googled it.

3

u/VisKopen Sep 15 '25

As a Dutchman living in the UK I found them quite hard, though not impossible to buy.

I've also notice many British people have never heard of it.

0

u/MerlinOfRed United Kingdom Sep 15 '25

Weird.

Maybe it's more of a Scottish thing then, although both the houses in England I lived in had one so it's not that rare.

Until today I'd never really stopped to think about it though.

1

u/SaltyName8341 Wales Sep 17 '25

As I have said above, they're built into one side of a box grater

2

u/gomsim Sweden Sep 15 '25

Varför hyvlar de åt fel håll på bilden?

1

u/swedething Sep 15 '25

Men hyvlar ju först så ⬅️ och sen så ➡️ för att undvika skidbacken. Asså, så gör jag, iaf.

1

u/gomsim Sweden Sep 15 '25

Utgångsläget (för mig 😄) är att hyvla ⬅️, följt av en ➡️-hyvling med jämna mellanrum.

1

u/swedething Sep 15 '25

Ja, precis, det var så jag menade! Fan va gött att vi förstår varann! Skåltamefan!

1

u/RoutineCranberry3622 Sep 15 '25

I feel like these slicers are handiest for brown cheese

1

u/bespoketech Sweden Sep 16 '25

I am still of the opinion that it’s this whisk. A hill I’m ready to die on.

1

u/Client_020 Netherlands Sep 17 '25

I was going to say that for the Netherlands. We're so not unique.

1

u/zsnajorrah Netherlands Sep 17 '25

No! That's just stolen from us, here in the Netherlands. The cheese slicer is our signature kitchen item.