Why you’ll love it: With
Opinel’s picnic set, you can guarantee that you’ll be the one classing up the joint with your knives and chopping board.
Do you know who the most popular person at the beer festival is? It’s not the person with the beer, everyone has beer, it’s the person with the foresight to have arrived prepared for the occasion with a selection of meats and cheeses. If you want to have the kind of friend who makes friends through charcuterie, you’ll want to buy your drinking buddies this Opinel Nomad picnic set.
Opinel is one of France’s most loved companies, and its knives have probably sliced more Brie than any other brand. With this set, which includes a serrated blade, a smaller non-serrated blade, a wine bottle opener, and a peeler, you can expand your range way past soft cheese.
Buyers love the quality of the knives and I found that, despite extensive testing, I could not out snack the sharpness of these blades. The serrated knife made short work of bread, the non-serrated blade took care of everything from cheese to chorizo, and the wine bottle opener made short work of fancy beer bottles with corks. The cutting board worked well to stop slightly inebriated testers resorting to using their thighs as an alternative.
There’s also a peeler and, if I’m honest, I didn’t use that very much, but maybe this will make your day if you don’t like apple skins or enjoy cooking potatoes while camping.
My wife and I have picnics pretty regularly, about once a week in the summer. They’re a great way to go on a cheap date in a special place and not have to share that space with other diners. There’s nothing more romantic than a drink and a well thought out meal on top of a hill as the sun sets. Do you need a special kit to do that? No. But is it a thoughtful gift for someone you want to spend more time with? Yes.
If you’re looking for the gift to get someone who has everything, this could be the perfect option. Not only do they almost certainly not have a folding peeler, they also don’t have an excuse to bring a picnic everywhere they go.
The Nomad set is contained in a folding microfiber towel, which means it’s easily thrown into a bag and is ready to deploy when the opportunity to make friends with a stranger through the offering of snacks presents itself. Perhaps you’ll even meet someone who knows what to do with that peeler.
Pros: Well constructed, makes it easier to bring a picnic
Cons: Seemingly random inclusion of a peeler
Buy the Opinel Nomad Kit on Amazon for $85