Some people carry knives when they'll be cooking somewhere else.

Me, I carry a microplane. With just a few whisks, it makes piles and piles of fluffy Parmesan, lemon zest, lime zest.

This is one of several versions. I like its broad face. I like the rubber handle. I like the fine rasp.



Nov 2006 Update: While I love the fine grate, I really really love the ribbon grater, especially for Parmesan and chocolate. In my kitchen, both are necessities. I've also learned to measure by weight, not volume, whenever a microplane is used.

Think about getting the finger guards. While I've only scraped myself once, it was sore for several hours ... and I have a friend who loves her Microplane but does have trouble getting scraped.