Preparation.

It was in Ibach, in 1884, where Karl Elsener and his mother, Victoria, opened a cutlery cooperative that would soon produce the first knives sold to the Swiss Army. The original model, called the Soldier Knife, was made for troops who needed a foldable tool that could open canned food and aid in disassembling a rifle. The Soldier Knife included a blade, a reamer, a can opener, a screwdriver, and oak handles.

Read the rest here.

Cultural Offering has me thinking appreciatively about my Swiss Army knives. I'm proud to say that I have carried my oldest one (above) with me every day since I bought it 17 years ago. It has saved the day many times in the woods, on the road, in the kitchen, in the classroom. Handling the duties as a father of twins, it's indispensable.

I own a Sportsman, and a Champ, but my oldest and dearest is what appears to be a version of the current Explorer model. It has a saw, file, can opener, ... even a dumaflache. What I like best about this knife is that the boys at Victorinox put an implement in every possible place they could. There are tools hidden all over this thing. The handiest features include a magnifying glass, a handy needle that is hidden within the corkscrew recess, and an ingenious eyeglass screwdriver that screws into the corkscrew. I can't tell you how many times that little thing has saved me. You can get a handful of them for ten bucks. Highly recommended.



By the way, the author of Cultural Offering's "Essentials" article, Steve Rinella, has written a great book called The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine ... it's a must. The book describes the lengths to which the author went to personally procure and prepare the ingredients for a 45-course meal based on Escoffier's 1903 cookbook, Le Guide Culinaire. Jim Harrison's blurb on the back cover ("It's sure to repel a few professional food sissies but attract many more with its sheer in-your-face enery and fine storytelling") sold me and I wasn't disappointed.