How thin is thin?

Morning Glory said:
Its fine if you use a guard with a mandoline - which I always do.
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I use a mandoline all the time. I typically slice things I'm pickling to 3 mm, but sometimes 2 mm. Along those lines, I find myself cutting colossal diakon radishes into quarters before slicing so it works better for kimchi (and so it fits better into the jar).

I generally hold the vegetable in my hand until it gets closer to the nub, then I use the guard.

To the original question, I want whatever I'm slicing/dicing/chopping to be reasonably edible in a single bite. As SatNavSaysStraightOn notes, that can be a different size for different people. But, if I'm using chopsticks, I don't like having to pick up a massive chunk that I have to take a bite out of and put down. It's a similar story with a fork, except that there's normally a knife nearby that I can use to cut down those chunks.

I haven't tried measuring the size of the chunks, but I'd say that tablespoon-size would be the maximum I'd like to use. Here, I'm talking about dishes with the sliced/chopped/cut thing incorporated (like a stir fry). The exception would be if I have shrimp/prawns in a dish. I don't want to pre-cut those for convenience, since I like the visual of the whole item.
 
I’ll have to check what my various cookbooks say about it. I’ve always taken chopped to me bigger than diced, but the actual size varies.

I just read a little blurb, though, that says the culinary definition doesn’t really consider size, but rather shape - chopped is usually irregular, where diced means each piece is precise - so 1/2” chopped and 1/2” diced are two very different things.
 
I "chop" fresh Thai hot chillis to around 3 or 4 mm for pickling or adding as garnish. Cayennes a bit larger. However, I use scissors to cut them. These are for pizza garnish.

Cutting s.jpg

Cutting s.jpg

 
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