It looks a bit like an Italian mezzaluna. You can use them as a replacement for a food processor, and in some cases a chef's knife. I've seen people use them to process herbs, garlic, and nuts to make pesto, for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hYy9ulfuVo

It's not dissimilar to a mezzaluna knife, which I have. They're good for mincing and chopping jobs- chopping fresh herbs, nuts etc, with a rocking motion. I've heard mezzalunas described as a great knife for those with limited knife skills. Nigella Lawson frequently uses a mezzaluna, and she admits she has no knife skills.

Edited to add:

Snap, Jamie! :-D

I was given one a few years ago. It is great for chopping fresh herbs, but I've never used it for anything else.

It's a very interesting knife, but I don't think that is a very useful knife in a home kitchen.

It can do many kinds of cutting, but none more effectively than a chef's knife.

dcarch

I have one. Can use for mincing stuff. Otherwise more of a conversation piece.

Thanks for all the input! I was thinking it would work OK for chopping but I'm pretty good with a chef's knife so I might not use it much. Maybe I'll pull it out to chop something when my son and GF come back from school to visit.

I'm glad they didn't spend too much on it so I don't feel obligated to use it a lot. It wasn't very sharp so I tried to sharpen it with my Chef's Choice sharpener but it didn't sharpen well. Cheap steel I imagine.

It's a little intimidating none the less.

I had one for a while too. Someone gave it to me after they went on an Alaskan cruise. I used it a little to mince herbs but not much else. I got rid of it. It’s faster for me to use a chefs knife for my mincing and dicing.

I've had one for many years. I mostly use it to cut pan things... like lasagna, brownies, pie, and, of course, pizza. Because you rock to cut - instead of slice - the pans don't get ruined with knife scratches.

My sister had one- it came with a mincing bowl. Great for mincing herbs and creaming garlic, and the cutter for some stuff that is better with roller/rocking cutting.

I have one from the Ulu Factory. It is decent quality; keeps an edge well. I got it with the wood cutting bowl and usually use it for mincing/chopping in that as I have other good knives that I prefer for general cutting and dicing. Without the bowl, I probably wouldn't use it much. It also has the leather sheath for storage. It would be difficult to store safely in my knife drawer without the blade covered.

I also have an Ulu, my youngest daughter bought it for me, along with a stand like the one Jack showed, and a wooden "bowl". It's far more useful with the bowl than without, I can toss a handful of fresh herbs in the bowl and by rocking the blade back and forth, mince them nicely without crushing them. I also use it for garlic. I have chopped nuts in it, but I have to clean it well after the garlic, LOL. Mine gets more frequent use in the summer, when my herb garden is verdant.

The blade on mine is razor sharp, thanks to Elery, but I have managed to nick myself a couple of times, I'm not quite sure how. I'm more careful now...

Annie

Mine didn't come with a bowl but we have a few wooden bowls that should work OK even if they don't exactly match the curved blade. I can see using it in the fall to slice up the garlic cloves rejected for planting before drying.

Jack, I found another use for that Ulu, chopping cranberries for muffins. I had some fresh cranberries in the refrigerator that needed to be used for something, and I decided to make my Mother some bread. Chopping cranberries with a knife involves chasing them around the kitchen and I didn't want to drag out the food processor for a cup of berries, so I dumped them into the wooden bowl of the Ulu. The rocking motion chopped them nicely without scattering them about, but didn't mush them up too much. I'll remember that....

Annie

Cool knife. If nothing else, I'd use it as a bench scraper. :)

Party_music; This knife is curved and wouldn't work very good as a bench scraper.