Good morning, I'm working on a longer creative nonfiction food-writing essay. It's in the early stage of conception. It is going to be about wooden spoons generally but I have yet to find my lede, the hook that will move the idea to a story. I'm going to practice in public some of my ideas and see what happens.

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Your cooking tools become storehouses of memories connecting us with the people in our lives.

Your cooking tools surround you when you are in the kitchen. They support you in making meals that you share. Indirectly they make real your love. They materialize current and past sensory relations. The tools you use to cook with embody the relationship memories between family and friends–between lovers.

Of all your cooking tools, wooden cooking tools invoke a kind of fetishism. Not the impoverished fetishism of commercial enterprises. These objects foil the culture of replaceability that capitalism is built on. Objects that take on the histories and identities express their possibilities of connection becoming more precious through use.

Patina and wear play important roles. Objects that don't develop a patina are at a disadvantage. They can't collect and reflect the history of their use.