11.5" x 3.75"
Wood
ROMANIA

It's hard to look at this knife and guess exactly what it is for - what is your guess? I have been doing all the talking, so let's let you fill in the blank...still blank? I was too. A wooden knife shaped like a decorative cleaver? It could be for tenderizing meat? Every home seemed to have one of these wooden knives and they were all over the market. Okay, you give up? It's for eggplant. Perhaps the title of this object gave it away and my information is less of a surprise and more of an affirmation - hopefully not of the emotional kind. Eggplant is common in Romania, where the cuisine was influenced by the Turks and the Greeks who, at various times, tried to invade, invaded or occupied the country. Roasting an eggplant to get a charred outside is very easy, but unlike a pepper which takes well to water, peeling the skin is always an issue, a sharp blade simply pierces, rather than peels. That's where the wood comes in. Hack away at the inside of a roasted eggplant with confidence and then make some zacuscă. If you do, bring me some and we can spend a few hours bartering with it. To me, that stuff is worth its weight in gold.