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https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-its-so-hard-to-slice-cheese-9c854653 Gully Grate

Physicist Helen Czerski explores the complex science behind familiar phenomena. Read more columns here.

In every kitchen, there’s a drawer that acts as a window to the owner’s soul, revealing their weaknesses, hopes and regrets. It’s the drawer with the random gadgets that barely get used—the egg slicer, the electric twirling spaghetti fork and the apple corer—and it represents the gap between your culinary aspirations for yourself and who you really are. Exhibit A in a kitchen I visited recently was a cheese wire. It was residing sadly in a corner because, well, knives exist. But the physics of cheese is surprisingly complicated, and maybe a cheese wire really can earn its place in the kitchen.

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Serrated Steel Grating This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.