It’s become something of a cliché: Don’t bring home a kitchen tool that does only one thing. A spoon for shagging olives which — alas!– cannot hold liquids because it has a hole in its bowl; a sharp-bladed wheel suitable only for slicing pizza; a pot that makes only fondue. Clear out these special-interest items, they say, so you’ll have more room for your one all-purpose knife.

Not so fast, says the Slow Food Gadgeteer.

What can be more cunning than a tool whose sole raison d’etre is a single dish? Or one that is willing to hang out until the right mood, occasion and ingredients converge? It’s like having a friend you can count on for specific guilty pleasures, like squandering an afternoon at a movie featuring Meryl Streep — singing.

Unlike other people, whom I don’t have to name, I do not begrudge drawer space to a truffle shaver. Not that mine has ever been used for its intended purpose, or that I expect to get my hands on a truffle any time soon.

Indeed, I bought my shaver in Paris when I was having language issues and mistook it for a tiny mandoline. It’s elegantly thin, with a sharp toothy blade that can be adjusted for different thicknesses by turning a jewel-like knob. I use it to shave onions.