In Croatia, there is a chef who calls himself the "Outlaw Chef."
He once cooked for the Croatian Prime Minister and President. He chose to leave that world behind. Today, he works at a national facility supporting young people with behavioral disorders, teaching them through cooking and art. He writes recipes for local newspapers and teaches as a guest instructor at culinary schools.
He calls his culinary philosophy "Art Brut Cuisine" — cooking born from intuition rather than calculation, from asymmetry rather than perfection, from whatever the surrounding environment offers. Raw, unfiltered expression through food.
He uses a Higonokami pocket knife from Ichizo Honpo.
A Blade Across the Sea
An Ichizo Honpo Higonokami arrived in the Istrian region of Croatia.
The Outlaw Chef already owned a smaller Higonokami — a 7cm blade he had picked up at a Japanese knife shop in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He loved it for picking herbs in his garden.
Then one day, he came across a photo of our Higonokami online. A 10cm blade. Slightly larger.
"The moment I saw the photo, I felt a strange 'click' in my mind, as if this knife was made for me."
He ordered it immediately.
Daily Companion
The moment he took it out of the box, he smiled.
After a few days of use, he made small adjustments to the blade angle and opening for practical reasons. He treated the leather case with layers of olive oil and coconut oil for waterproofing.
Since then, this Higonokami has never left his side. It stays in his pocket during the day and on his bedside table at night.
"This is my daily companion."
Cooking with a Pocket Knife
In the morning, he steps into his garden to pick herbs. He opens a bottle of Coca-Cola. He drinks a strong espresso, surrounded by birdsong and the scent of fresh herbs.
Then he cooks. For his wife. For his sons. With a single Higonokami.
At work, he uses it in cooking classes — filleting fish, cutting meat, chopping vegetables. He developed his own cutting technique naturally, different from conventional kitchen knives but equally effective.
Herbs. Strawberries. Bell peppers. Meat. String. Paper. Packages. Paint cans. Small pieces of wood. Kindling for the barbecue.
All with this one blade.
A Chef with 50 Knives Speaks
The Outlaw Chef owns more than 50 knives as a professional, organized into seven sets by purpose.
This is what he says about the Higonokami:
"Generally speaking, the Higonokami is a very simple and small pocket knife without even a locking mechanism. However, it is precisely this simplicity, the sharpness of the carbon steel, the ease of sharpening, and the durability of the blade that make this knife quick and reliable for everyday tasks. What may seem like a disadvantage at first glance is actually an advantage and a strength."
In Japanese craft tradition, there is a concept known as wabi-sabi — the idea that beauty lives in simplicity and imperfection. The Outlaw Chef arrived at this same understanding from the other side of the world, through his own experience with a blade that carries no lock, no complexity, and no pretense.
The Main Knife of Art Brut Cuisine
The Outlaw Chef is also the founder of "Art Brut Cuisine" — a culinary philosophy rooted in asymmetry, intuition, and raw expression. Cooking that emerges from the unconscious, shaped only by the ingredients and environment at hand.
For a long time, he searched for the right "main knife" for this philosophy.
The answer was the Higonokami.
"The answer is exactly the Higonokami. Its slight asymmetry, its quick and direct access to ingredients, and its outstanding sharpness."
His recipe notebooks are filled with vivid hand-painted illustrations of dishes, annotated in his own script. Beside them, always, the Higonokami.
Every Moment Is Eternal
He wrote:
"Every moment of using this knife — picking wild fennel in the morning dew, bathed in the orange light of the rising sun, filleting fish, cutting juicy strawberries from the garden, splitting pine bark by the sea to make fragrant smoke — all of these remind us that every moment of our lives is valuable, original, and never repeated."
"It happens only once and never returns. But from those moments, the magic of life is woven, and even though they pass, they are eternal."
There is a Japanese phrase, ichi-go ichi-e (一期一会) — "one time, one meeting." It speaks to the irreplaceable nature of every encounter, every moment. The Outlaw Chef, without ever studying this tradition, arrived at its essence through a pocket knife and a life lived with intention.
Afterword
To choose our knife from across the world.
To use it every single day.
And to find, in this simple blade, the very spirit we put into making it — the belief that stripping away everything unnecessary reveals what truly matters.
The Outlaw Chef's words reflected back to us the philosophy at the heart of Ichizo Honpo. Not because we told him. Because he found it on his own.
A single knife, woven into a single life. For a tool, there is no greater honor.
Thank you, Outlaw Chef.
Follow the Outlaw Chef on Instagram.
@monsieuroutlawchef
All photos and quotes are published with the Outlaw Chef's permission.