A writer named Patience Gray recounts the provenance of her favorite wooden spoon in a book called “Honey from a Weed.” It came flying out a kitchen window at the climax of a couple’s squabble, and she picked it up and kept it. I buy a wooden spoon whenever I see one I like because I may need to throw something, and a passerby may need one.

Tamar Adler in “An Everlasting Meal”