Perri Kressel is a commerce editor covering news and deals for Food & Wine. She has written for Food & Wine since February 2022, and her work has appeared in a variety of publications including Refinery29, Swirled, Buzzfeed, Guest of a Guest, The Tab, and The Westside Rag.

Expertise: food, home, news, and deals.

Education: Perri received a B.A. in journalism and social and cultural analysis from New York University.

Experience: Prior to joining the team at Dotdash Meredith in 2019, Perri held writing positions at Refinery29, Guest of a Guest, and Swirled, where she covered everything from restaurant guides to recipes. Now she covers all things food, product launches, and news and deals at Food & Wine. When she's not typing away, she can be found trying out New York City's newest restaurants or cooking up a storm in her kitchen.

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Picture this, you're at your favorite Italian restaurant sitting in front of a heaping plate of pasta. Your waiter comes over to top some fresh Parmesan onto your plate, cranking the lever of a machine-like grater that swiftly sprinkles fresh flakes (or a mountain) of cheese. If you're anything like me, this ritual is one of the best parts of dining out. But even I was surprised when the restaurant-staple became my new favorite kitchen tool.

Offhand, the Vivaant Cheese Grater seems pretty straightforward. You just place your cheese into its large canal, close it up, and crank away. But, upon closer look, it is actually an incredibly versatile tool that can be used for many other ingredients. Use it to achieve thick chocolate slivers for baked goods, extra-fine nuts for marinades and dressings, and shredded veggies for slaws in mere minutes.

To buy: Vivaant Cheese Grater, $24 (originally $40) at amazon.com

I am an avid Microplane user and was a bit skeptical when I bought this grater. But after a few months of trying it, I'm hooked. I find it more efficient and cleaner to use than a traditional grater because a lever, rather than my hand, pushes the cheese through the stainless steel shredder. It's become my go-to tool to spice up work-from-home lunches or to incorporate a quick touch of creaminess into pasta sauces without making a mess. Most recently, I even used it to grate carrots into my bulgogi rice bowl.

The Vivaant Grater comes with four interchangeable attachments that work with both hard and soft ingredients—two stainless steel grater heads to choose your desired coarseness and two plastic container attachments to store grated items for later use. It also has an easy-to-use reversible handle that locks in place so your ingredients won't end up on the counter. And the BPA-free tool is top-rack dishwasher-safe for no-stress cleaning.

Best of all, this tool is incredibly fun to use. I now actually prefer using a lever to grate my cheese over a traditional grater. And the extra accessories make the whole experience feel like a cool kitchen toy.

So, if you find yourself reaching for your Microplane frequently, consider trying it out. The Vivaant grater normally costs $40, but you can snag it for just $24 on Amazon right now. Hurry and add it to your cart before the 40% discount disappears.

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