Shun's santoku knife on caramelized onion tart. Photo: Alex Van Buren

Knives. Outside of the full-time food dork world, people -- even foodies -- don't tend to talk about them much.

They have a bad association as, um, dull conversational topics: There's the unwelcome knife salesman banging on the door, or that eternal infomercial ("Only $39.95 in three easy installments!"). I owned a sub-par knife for years, until a friend trained at a local culinary institute basically took it away from me.

I've been shopping ever since with an eagle eye for sales. The santoku style caught my attention for its multiuse blade (note the indentations, which purportedly help keep food from sticking) and stylish look. And when I grabbed a Shun in hand at a local shop -- its base has a slight teardrop shape, perfectly suited to that soft nub between thumb and index finger -- I fell in love.

The cookbook photo and the real thing. Photo: Alex Van Buren

Since then, I have been shopping at the farmers market not for food I want to eat, but food I want to chop: chives, baby bok choy, cheese, onions. The Nigel Slater tart photographed above (caramelized onion, taleggio and thyme thrown atop store-bought puff pastry) used to take me an hour to prepare. Now that I'm not sawing through onions, but slicing them cleanly -- the knife fairly sings when it slices -- it takes 30 minutes. If someone had told me I could halve my cooking time with a $100 knife, I would have invested in a top-notch blade long ago.

I'm certainly not the first to sing Shun's praises. These are pricey knives made of high-grade steel that require delicate care. But when my baked goods come out looking precisely like those in the cookbook and chopping becomes an utterly delightful task, it's hard not to proselytize to anyone who will listen.

My appetite for cooking -- already strong -- has been hugely amplified. I just visited my folks for the weekend. I brought the knife, exclaiming, "I didn't want to leave it at home alone!" We fought over who would be sous chef the whole time.

Alex Van Buren is the editor of Slashfood.