I really don't know how much of this I believe. Maybe for sushi. But pro chefs in fine dining kitchens with zero tolerance for variation in an onion brunoise do not as a general rule use $400 custom knives. Some surely do, but they're not a job requirement.
My butcher uses a "crappy" mass produced stamped knife.
To a large extent I think these are fetish objects. Don't get me wrong: they are freaking cool and I want one.
Yes, that's true, but pro chefs also have unusual requirements for precision and speed, which is basically the whole value proposition for "super sharp knife".
Home cooks don't need to be able to produce a perfect dice. Line cooks do. Line cooks don't tend to use $400 knives. That's telling.
My butcher uses a "crappy" mass produced stamped knife.
To a large extent I think these are fetish objects. Don't get me wrong: they are freaking cool and I want one.