In Thailand we eat a lot of salads based on shredded papaya or cucumber and chillis. The traditional way to make them is to bash the papaya with a knife to make length wise cuts, the trim off the julienne strips of papaya with the knife.

Technology has moved on a long way since then, and these two gadgets are very much quicker. You pull them down the length of the vegetable and instantly they make nice long even shreds.