Five foodie gifts for Christmas

Buying for others in the festive season can be a difficult affair. There are few things worse than seeing your carefully selected gift met with a face that can barely hide its disappointment. Food lovers, in particular, are a nightmare to buy for. With so many useless gadgets and so much generic produce out there, your present can easily resemble a last-minute dash to Waitrose. This year, why not get them something that they’ll actually use and appreciate?

Dependable metalware
A good enameled cast-iron pan or a solid set of knives is always going to be an excellent choice. They’ll be used regularly, they’re long-lasting and they show that you’ve done your research. They might not be as exciting or groundbreaking as some of the other gifts on this list, but they’re certainly the safest. Le Creuset remain the kings of cast iron, whilst Sabatier, Tojiro Senkou and Global all provide relatively affordable kitchen knives.

Visit Le Creuset, Sabatier, Tojiro Senkou and Global for further information or to purchase.

Click & Grow Smart Herb Garden
Developed using technology for NASA, this clever herb garden ensures that the plants within receive the perfect balance of moisture and light. Largely automated and thus remarkably easy to use, it’s ideal for an inner city foodie who lacks any sunny spaces to grow herbs naturally.

Visit Click & Grow Smart Herb Garden for further information or to purchase.

Chocolate Ecstasy Tour
The Chocolate Ecstasy company offers two tours: one in Mayfair and one in Chelsea. The former is ideal for a chocoholic just starting to explore more sophisticated produce. The latter focuses more on dark chocolates and unique flavour combinations – the perfect gift for any foodie who can’t bear to look at another bar of Dairy Milk. Both tours include heavy sampling and excellent discounts at featured stores, as well as insider knowledge and informative guides who are happy to answer questions with enthusiasm.

Visit Chocolate Ecstasy Tours for further information or to purchase.

Suki Teapot
If you’ve had tea at a high-end hotel, restaurant or cafe in recent times, you’re sure to be familiar with the Suki teapot. Based around a relatively simple idea – a teapot with a removable infuser – it takes all the hassle out of making a pot of loose-leaf tea. Not only that, but its centralised, high surface area infuser is far superior to the little steel baubles most used to brew tea leaves at home.

Visit Suki for further information or to purchase.

Curing chamber

This one is a little out there, though it’s a gift that will delight many charcuterie-loving foodies. Curing meat is essentially the process of removing the liquid from it at a controlled rate, whilst combating spoilage with salt and spices. Although this process must be done in very specific conditions, it’s actually very easy to achieve as long as you do it in a custom-built space. An old fridge, a hygrostat and a humidifier are all you need to make your own, or you can purchase one online, pre-built by someone else.

For further information on how to build a meat curing chamber visit here.

Daniel Masters