Best Gifts for Foodies Who Have It All (And Some To Avoid)

Have you ever noticed that our friends and families are almost scared to give us anything food-related, when in fact those are the things we most want? But then again, we've shopped for enough fellow foodies that we understand the dilemma. Does she already have this? Would he really like that? Is this something they'd even use? Here are a few sure-win gift ideas for any foodie in your life.

• Small Luxuries - There are a lot of ingredients that we food-lovers read about or see used on cooking shows, but can rarely justify (or afford) to use in our everyday cooking. Getting these as gifts feels like such a treat. Here are a few on my own list:

Truffle Oil
Porcini Powder
Saffron
Imported Italian Dried Pasta
Artisan Salts
Vanilla Beans

• Local Ingredients - When you're buying a gift for a foodie friend who lives far away, think local. Jams from your farmers market, local honey, beer from the brewery in town, even citrus from the tree in your yard: these are things that your friend won't be able to get where they live and that will feel all the more special because of it.

• DIY Food Kits - If you know that the person you're buying for likes big projects, think about giving them something like a Grow-Your-Own Mushroom kit, a cheese-making kit, or a one-gallon beer brewing kit.

• Pretty Serving Dishes - This one can be risky and requires knowing your audience a little, but it can also be a huge hit if you get it right. Personally, serving dishes are the kind of thing I never think of buying for myself, so I'm delighted whenever someone sends me an artsy serving platter for my birthday or brings me a pretty glazed bowl as a thank-you present.

What to Avoid - Unless specifically asked for, we'd avoid giving kitchen equipment or appliances. There's too much of a risk that your gift recipient might already own it, prefer a different model, or simply not want it at all. I find that the same is also often true for cookbooks. Unless I know for a fact that the person really wants a certain cookbook and hasn't already bought it for themselves, I tend to choose a different food-related gift.

What are your favorite food gifts to give or receive?

(Images: iGourmet and Back to the Roots Mushroom Garden)

Comments (44)

I highly recommend not purchasing a grow-your-own mushroom kit from BTTR Ventures. TheKitchn has reviewed a kit from Mushroom Adventures (here: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/food-science/diy-oyster-mushroom-kit-106752) and it's probably a more reputable company. Or maybe try Fungi Perfecti.

My favorite food gift to give and receive is chocolate.

Any good quality oils )especially flavored) are nice. I forget the name but theres a small olive oil company in Cali that sells olive oil they press with various local grown citruses I've heard is amazing.

If going over to a friend's place that with a nice loaf of bread in a pretty tea towel sounds perfect to me.

I love love love to cook so I have received everything from salt to a toaster as gifts. The hard part is getting something you don't like. I have ice cream dishes from a good friend that I've never used.

OMG NO MORE APRONS. Towels, oven mitts and potholders are a better bet because they are actually used! I don't care what color -- they're going to be splattered with food anyway.

hmo good call on oven mitts! I've never heard of someone giving those but I go through them (even nice quality ones) quicker than I know what to do with!

Eh, I don't care for DIY food kits. If I haven't picked up a grow-your-own-mushroom kit yet, I don't need one.

I get antsy about space in my kitchen, so if I have a serving dish that I don't have room for or doesn't go with the rest of my stuff, I'll likely give it away.

Thumbs up to local ingredients and artisan splurges!!

You guys are so right on cookbooks. I'd love to hear your ideas on how to communicate that I don't want/need cookbooks as gifts without sounding ungrateful.

I rarely receive food type gifts and I would adore most everything on that list. But yeah, as a baker, I agree with FelicityBoston that chocolate is a winner. I would be over the moon if someone gave me a 1kg bag of Valrhona feves to bake with...if someone gave me the 6kg bag I think I'd pass out from happiness.

I know some people consider them tacky, but I love getting gift certificates to my favorite grocery stores (Trader Joe's) or to places I usually can't afford (Whole Foods.) This allows me to splurge on a fresh ingredient like a special cheese or a pricey bottle of wine, or to try something new. To me, this is bliss!

These are all great recommendations (especially in the comments). I would avoid the truffle oil though, and maybe replace that with (of course) quality chocolate and hard to find spices.

To expand on the local products - you can also give out regional food - good ramen noodles, mixes for stews, exotic junk food, local cheese (if it can pass customs).

Yea - agree with the cookbooks not needed, even though I love my cookbook collection.

In particular, I neither need nor want a specialty location-specific cookbook from YOUR vacation, which YOU purchased 6+ months ago. In fact, I think you gave this to me because you were tired of it and otherwise would have tossed it.

Whew, good to get that off my chest, I guess you hit a nerve!

For the most part I'm not a fan of cookbooks as presents, but my sister recently gave me a Turkish cookbook personalised with stories of her trip there last year - obviously you have to be careful how you do it, but her carefully thought out, typed up, and pasted in stories made the book super special (she found spaces to put her comments that didn't make them look out of place - in fact, I didn't even notice the first time through the book). It's much more than a cookbook - also a storybook, and very insightful into the culture.

I have fallen in love with really good vinegars, especially unusual ones like fig wine vinegar. They make a really interesting and versatile foodie gift. Zingerman's has some of my favorites:

http://www.zingermans.com/Category.aspx?category=beyond_balsamics

coffee! local coffee for far-away friends has been a winning gift from my partner and me in the past.

A friend gave me some wonderful olive oil with meyer lemon in it. Every time I taste it, I love it more.

I'm always a big fan of a cookbook, it's a great excuse to set a date with the giver/receiver for a dinner date where you cook something from the book together!

Living in the UK, I never know what to take as gifts when visiting friends in France and Italy. It's much easier bringing things back for people at home!

Please no artisan salts. We have himalayan salt, fleur de sel and two or three other artisan salts, all gifts by friends of my parents. Do you know how long you need to use one giant box of fleur de sel? Frankly, I hardly use pure salt to cook anyway and I don't think you really realize the difference if your indian curry or basil pesto is made with fleur de seul or simple salt anyway (an exception may be some very simple dishes were the salt is the star, but I don't do many of these and if I would, I would want to decide for myself which artisan salt to buy and use for it and not some random friend who just thought himalayan salt looks nice and expensive). Curry and other spice blends is a similar problem. Yes, it is nice that you went to India and came back with spices. That doesn't however change, that we still have the spices another friend brought us a year ago. And the fair-trade curry blend another friend bought for us at a fair trade shop two years ago. And then, when I make a curry, the cookbook lists the ingredients separetly and I can't even use any of the curry blends you people gave to me.

It's always nice to be asked. Typically, I suggest consumables and I offer to share.

I'm adamant about no more tea-mugs. I drink a lot of tea, so when folk see something new in tea - they buy me some figuring it's a good gift. After years of this I had so many tea mugs I could have opened a tea store! Now, when I get some (and I still do) I keep them for a year then give them away to good will (or friends in need).

My friends and I are about to graduate from college and we came up with the idea that instead of getting everyone presents, we would each donate a few recipes and put together a cookbook, then have it bound. It looks great, it will remind us of each other when we make the recipes, and it only cost $7 a person!

Some very good friends of ours recently wed and we thought we hit gold with our gift idea. They are well traveled and love to eat well and cook but already have alot of the necessary kitchen items. So we adopted a tree/bought them a years subscription to Nudo Olive Oil. It was pricey (over $100) but for a special occassion such as a wedding for dear friends, worth every penny, IMO.

My favorite foodie gift is definitely a nice, aged balsamic vinegar (which you can find in a range of prices, depending on the occasion). Spices are also nice - we've given family members some of our favorites for the holidays that they are less likely to own but might use (e.g., smoked paprika, shallot-pepper seasoning).

After seeing them mentioned on here, I got my mom a bean sampler from Rancho Gordo for mother's day. She liked them a lot.

I'd been giving my parents high-end ingredients for years, things they would cook with (and yes, a fancy salt sampler). But this year they were traveling a lot so I sent them an appetizer-themed gift: jarred high quality olives, marcona almonds, crackers, good blue cheese. Jet lag food.

My daughter has picked up on the fact that we always give Grandma and Grandpa "groceries." So for my dad's birthday she carefully wrapped him a box of Cheerios! (his fave)

Personally, I LOVE getting kitchen gadgets- but I'll usually just tell people what I want. Just this week a friend unexpectedly gave me a Henckels knife- it was just what I had been pining over for about six months. I liked it so much that I even gave it its own blog post.

But, I do also highly recommend gifts such as regional coffee and non-perishable foods.. or just something that the gift giver makes themselves, that's the best of all.

Unprofessional Cookery

I completely agree with you on every point. I would LOVE it if I were gifted some truffle oil. My stepmother gave me some powdered Madagascar vanilla beans last year for Christmas, and that was pretty awesome! Every summer her and my dad send me stuff from the Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor, Michigan, which is also a huge treat.

fulinlin needs to be more grateful :)

I appreciate anything consumables of almost any type. I give in the same way--either something homebaked/made or some new food I really like or, in a pinch, a gift certificate to a good grocery or other food store.

fulinlin, I think this is a perfect example of how different people are: one of my very favorite culinary gifts in recent years was a bag of artisanal salt. I decanted the salt into a tight jar, so it will keep indefinitely, and I get the pleasure of using it only when the texture and flavor will be perfectly highlighted. I'd love to have more varieties, and I'll probably splurge and buy myself some --- but what a lovely gift that was, and for the right person!

But even repeated gifts of luxury items don't really get me cranky. When I realized I had been given three, count 'em: three, bottles of excellent sticky-sweet aged balsamic vinegar, I just used that as an excuse to be lavish with it.

Great list! Great ideas. Gah, I wish I knew people who had citrus trees and were generous with the fruits thereof! Once when I was little I had an orange straight from the tree and it was bliss, so getting a small box of them as a gift sounds heavenly.

Related to the cookbook warning: avoid sponsored products unless you actually really know that your friend loves, say, Mark Bittman and will be over the moon about a bottle of Mark Bittman's Special Reserve Olive Oil. (I don't know if Bittman actually puts his face on any products.) Because if they hate his food philosophy they aren't going to like the oil, no matter how quality it is.

Sometimes when I am stumped, I will shop used book stores looking for fun vintage cookbooks for the foodies in my life. They are unlikely to have a copy already, and some of them are a blast to read. I've gifted a few copies of "Sloe Gin and Beewax" by Jane Newdick to my DIY friends, and I found an hilarious cook book from ALCOA (Aluminum Company of America) that has a million and one uses for aluminum foil including centerpieces for your wedding that I gave as a wedding shower gift. So, cookbooks can be a fun and thoughtful gift for a foodie, just choose with care...

Jmorri, you might be thinking of WeOlive www.weolive.com. They have tons of local olive oils (local to me on the Central Coast, anyway), vinegars and other goodies. If you're ever in CA, it's a great place to go tasting. Last time I was there, I tasted a Blood Orange olive oil that was to die for!

yes, whoever mentioned it - rancho gordo beans! what a wonderful gift!

What about a subscription to Cook's Illustrated? It's pretty expensive, as magazines go, so I wasn't inclined to subscribe myself until my husband got it for me as a gift--now, I'm hooked!

A box of French maraons will do. Thank you! =)

I made my own gigantic bottle of vanilla extract a couple of years ago for my baking projects. It's super easy - a clear good brand of vodka, drop in a few cut open a vanilla beans, and let it sit for a three months shaking it up once a week. The best thing is the upkeep just a new bean every few years, and more vodka. You are set for life!

When ever I visit my friends that like sweets or baking, I pour them their own starter for vanilla extract in a small bottle out of my stash. Then the gift is useful, and handmade! :)

I also like to give homemade flavored alcohols, raspberry rum, etc for gifts around the holidays. Then you can tailor it to each person's tastes. And it's just as easy as the vanilla extract to make.

I love getting spices, but only because I like to plain my meal around a spice/flavor not a food. Probably why I'm a baker first, then a chef.

I second the no serving dishes. I'm very limited in space in my kitchen, and I am picky about my table settings.

@MrsCake that sounds like one of the best gifts to a foodie, from a foodie, that I've ever heard. Useful, thoughtful and personal.

As for me, I treasure my space so small, unusual and consumable things are my favorite to receive. Fancy honey, saffron and very special chocolate all delight me.

@ jmorri26 / kristineaaaaah,

You may also be thinking of Sciabica olive oil - they do lemon, lime, orange and a bunch of other flavors like basil, habanero, and rosemary. I discovered them by accident awhile ago, and I've ordered mini bottles as stocking stuffers - they are a hit!

http://www.sciabica.com/

You might give aprons a second try, provided of course they are the useful type that actually cover the shirt area, not the groin area only. One of the most surprisingly useful kitchen gifts I've received was one from a friend's Chicago foodie mother, and it was your basic industrial heavy cotton apron, with just a strap around the neck and a long enough tie that it goes all the way around and ties in front, creating a good place to tuck a tea towel. The number of stains on that thing now is a testament to the number of stains that are not on my shirts.

I think I would really appreciate a fancy salt. For Christmas my brother and I went to Eataly and got my dad (a foodie) Italian meats, cheese, wine and a nice grater.

I grew up in California and now live in rural Maryland. One of my favorite things ever growing up? Artichokes. LOVE THEM. But out here, they are small and not fresh--I guess I'm an artichoke snob. So my parents sent a box of artichokes to me one year, and though it was probably expensive, it couldn't have been bestowed upon a more grateful recipient.

we live in southern CA and the local lemon trees are so filled with lemons that I just grab some on my morning walk. they become everything from lemon/ginger pops to lemon sorbet to lemon bars. I've mailed some to my mom in NY and even though it wasn't cost effective, it was fun to yank them off the tree and stick them in a box.

Thanks for the recommendation ericasullivan!