Remembering Kendall Jenner’s Cucumber Blunder, The Best Thing That Happened This Year

Writer Lia Kim reflects on the moment she can’t forget in a year full of chaos: Kendall Jenner’s inability to cut a cucumber. 

How I felt watching Kendall Jenner massacre that cucumber was the exact opposite of how I felt watching those videos of smart birds figuring out puzzle boxes. I stared at her hands like they were the next Mona Lisa: would it still be as baffling if I watched it from another angle? With each viewing, more questions emerged. 

How did Kendall make it to 27 years of age without learning basic — I repeat, basic — knife skills? Clearly she’s wealthy enough to never have to cook for herself, despite her attempts to make us think otherwise. But not even a cooking video every now and then? A little Joshua Weissman? A Bon Appétit clip or two? I’m no Jeremy Allen, but even I can chop a salad. The silver lining of not having a full-time in house chef, I suppose. 

Cooking skills aside, surely it’s basic human instinct to put a tool in your dominant hand, then use said tool directly on the object? Hers is a very inefficient way to position your arms — it almost looks like a bit, which actually, it could be.

Her cucumber snag is just foolish enough for the angry mob to chime in and create headlines, but not egregious enough to warrant any severe criticism. It got the people talking, as is the Kardashian way. 

Fine, I’ll give credit where credit’s due. Kendall and her cucumber won: we’re seven months down the line, and I remain as fixated on this as ever.