A slicer as a man’s dream? Hard to imagine. And yet … it exists! The mere name «Berkel» raises the pulse of amateur and professional cooks alike. It’s a dream of precision, of style and of a deep bond with consummate craftsmanship.
The fascination begins with the cut, so perfect and clean that it becomes almost meditative. It’s this flawless, silent precision that not only impresses but captivates every gourmet. For connoisseurs know: only when sliced paper-thin do specialities like Culatello di Zibello or a Mortadella Bologna IGP release their full glory of flavour.
But the magic goes far beyond mere slicing. Berkel machines are witnesses to a glorious past, when perfect craftsmanship enjoyed a standing it has often lost today. They are the gateway to a world in which elegance and style were not only aspired to but lived. And not least there’s that inimitable aesthetic: Berkels are not purely functional devices but true works of art, whose design is an ode to beauty.
The Big Idea
It all began on 5 February 1869, in the small village of Enschot in the Netherlands, with the birth of Wilhelmus Adrianus van Berkel. He became a butcher, developed a passion for precision engineering and had a big idea: to build a machine that slices meat to perfection. After numerous attempts, the solution took the form of a concave blade that imitated the manual motion of the butcher’s knife, plus a movable plate driven back and forth by a flywheel. The first mechanical slicer was born: the Berkel Model A.
On 12 October 1898, Berkel founded the world’s first slicer factory in Rotterdam. The rest is history. 126 years later, Van Berkel International, with over 160 employees, turns over more than 20 million dollars. And the brand has become a cult object: even the Museum of Modern Art in New York displays a Berkel Model C – to look at, not to slice ham.
Our Favourite
But our favourite model among the many Berkel variants is the Volano P15. This replica of the iconic Model P from the 1940s enchants with its unique flower flywheel, its 285 mm blade of chromed 100Cr6 steel with a professional grind and its manual millimetre dial for perfect cuts from 0 to 3 mm. Nothing more is needed for a dream. Price: CHF 12,450.
This article appeared in MEN issue 1/24 (May 2024).
