You Should Feel Bad

The other day I bought a zester. For those of you who don’t know what a zester is, don’t be intimidated by the name. A zester comes from the same family as a cheese grater. 



But instead of the nice large holes used to shred cheese, a zester has tiny holes to grate the outside of a citrus fruit. The shredded outside layer of a citrus fruit is called “zest” instead of “the shredded outside layer of a citrus fruit.” Zest is used in recipes that need a bit more zing, or “zest,” if you will.


I needed both the zest and the juice from a lemon for my recipe, but first I needed to get the zester out of the packaging. It was encased in what I have heard called “a dungeon of plastic.” You know, that kind that’s two thick pieces of plastic sealed together so tightly that you have to stab it repeatedly to get at whatever’s inside.

I didn’t break my scissors (mostly because I used my knife), and I didn’t think it was a big deal until after I washed my zester and began to use it, because as I was using it, something terrible happened.

I got lemon juice on my hands.


Which was when I realized that I’d cut myself on the sharp packaging.


So whoever it was that decided to design packaging this way should be ashamed. Your product is bad and you should feel bad. You should have realized that it was a bad idea when you were creating it, though I guess it’s not your fault that companies have continued to use it despite the fact that everyone hates it.

But I guess they could always just get one of these.

As long as they don’t mind opening the package.