25 mouth-wateringly good gifts for foodies
Finding the perfect gift for someone can feel like a momentous task, especially when it seems like they have everything. However, when it comes to the best foodie gifts, House & Garden has you covered. Everyone likes an edible gift, whether you're looking for a festive present to thank someone with or want to contribute something extra special to a Christmas gathering (and don't want to spend hours in the kitchen making it). Perhaps you are buying for a food obsessed family member, home chef or foodie friend? Well, we've thought of everything.
If you are on the hunt for the best present for a foodie or wannabe chef, you can also head to our gift guide on the best gifts for cooks for even more inspiration.
What are the best food gifts to buy?
Our list of food gifts include everything from luxury gifts to stocking fillers, with ideas such as pizza ovens to tablecloths for hosts to impress at a dinner party, ideas for those with a sweet tooth, high quality tea, dark chocolate truffles, bigger gift sets, and food boxes and hampers and advent calendars. For those with a more studious approach, there are also cookbooks and memoirs about food. More unique food gift ideas on the list include the ultimate brie for your cheese board, an alternative to aperol for Italian Christmas cocktails and low ABV beers that are sure to impress even most difficult giftees.
If you're stuck for present ideas for the foodie in your life, take a look at our 22 unique gift ideas for food lovers below.
Best gifts for foodies
1/25The Oldstead Ultimate Festive Feast Hamper, £185 from Made in Oldstead.
Tommy Banks, who runs Roots in York and Michelin star restaurant The Black Swan in Oldstead, has created food boxes in the same vein, and this gift box the ultimate festive food box around. It's not a turkey and trimmings affair, instead it's packed full of goodies, which are perfect for elevating your festive food offering. Highlights include the charcuterie selection, the creamy chicken liver parfait, the oh-so tangy Lanark blue cheese and the root vegetable mince pies, to name a few. There's also chutneys, sourdough, fudge and plenty for the sweet toothed too. We also like the cans of Bank Brothers wine, including pinot gris, petit sirah malbec and cape vintage, which are easier to recycle, but also a lighter package to send so uses less carbon.
2/25Fortnum's Feasting Advent Calendar, £200 from Fortnum and Mason.
As one of the best department stores in London, you'd expect big things from Fortnum & Mason's Feasting advent calendar–and you'd be right for doing so. It's beautifully designed (so it can be reused in years to come) and includes 25 food hall favourites. Inside you'll find a little box of its spiced orange and dark chocolate biscuit, a pack of five of the Royal blend tea bags as well as Christmas tea, figgy pudding liquor, salted caramel hot chocolate, a mini bottle of champagne, and gold chocolate coins. A luxurious countdown for any F&M food fans.
3/25Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook (Hardback), £26 from Waterstones.
This is the debut cookbook from Melissa Thompson, award winner food writer, journalist and columnist. It is the perfect gift for foodies. Named after her father's motherland, Jamaica, the book celebrates Jamaican cooking in all its glory, instead of tying it into a more general ‘Caribbean’ category as she finds it so often is.
Melissa takes us on a tangible journey throughout the cuisine's history. From stuffed dumplings with callaloo and saltfish, to pepper goat skewers and crispy ginger beer pork belly, there's plenty to get excited about cooking.
4/25Soy Sauce Bauble Tree Decoration, £14.99 from Sous Chef.
5/25Handwoven Lemon Napkin Ring Holder, £10 from Rebecca Udall.
6/25Small Beer IPA Six Bottles, £15 from The Original Small Beer.
Another great gift idea for low ABV drinkers. Forget what you know about low ABV beers though; these are packed full of beery flavour, just like you'd expect from any other beer.
Our favourites are the larger and the new IPA, while the three others include session pale, steam and dark larger. Each is available in stubby bottles, cans or 5-litre kegs. To make each sip even sweeter, the beers are vegan and the company has BCorp status.
7/25Dishoom Cookery Book Hamper, £70 from Dishoom Store.
Everyone's favourite Bombay style cafe Dishoom's hamper has the essentials any Indian food-loving cook will relish in. Making the perfect foodie gift, it comes with a charming vintage style branded tin with 12 individually tinned spices, from turmeric to green cardamon pods to the Dishoom cookbook as well as a sizeable packet of urad dal, the key ingredient for the restaurant's signature dish, the black dal. Little extras also include the tote bag of the book's cover, a red and cream tea towel plus chilli chutney which can go in quite literally anything from samosas to prawn koliwada, and it really lifts cheese on toast.
8/25Pasta Grannies Comfort Cookbook, £22 from Waterstones.
This is the second of two Italian Pasta Grannies cookbooks from the very same team who set up the YouTube channel back in 2015. The first book is all about recipes from real nonnas in Italy, while the second instalment focuses on comfort food.
Sharing regional recipes, this is the antithesis of fast food. There's no dried pasta, but also no need for kitchen gadgets (you don't need to invest in a pasta making machine if you don't want to. For something sweet and festive, try Maria's sweet baked chestnut tortelli from Romagna: a little baked goodie dipped in sapa.
9/25Baron Bigod Cheese, quarter, £27.50 from Neal's Yard.
If you turn up to a festive gathering with this gift idea you're sure to be the most popular guest. It's the best English style brie we've found; it's creamy, yet crumbly at the very core and has that oh-so deliciously tangy richness to it. Naturally it goes well with a red onion chutney.
The geniuses behind Baron Bigod at Fen Farm in Suffolk follow the traditional methods of making it, producing it on site at the farm rather than the creamery. Using a traditional French brie recipe, it's made from fresh raw milk from Jonny Crickmore's own herd of Montbéliarde cows. The cheese is then wrapped, salted and aged for up to eight weeks. It's also best slathered onto thinly cut slices of toast.
10/25Aperitivo Select Liqueur, £16.79 from Master of Malt.
Move over Aperol, there's a new Italian aperitivo in town. Well, it's not actually new, having been born in 1920s Venice, but it's certainly not as well known in the UK compared to its orange hued cousin.
Any fans of Aperol or negronis will love this drink. It's slightly less sweet, with a smokier flavour and hints of vanilla. It's quite perfect at Christmastime. Saluti!
11/25Pimentae Gift Hamper, £52 from Pimentae Drinks
12/25T2 French Earl Grey Black Tea, 100 bags, £19.95 from Amazon.
This Australian tea brand has an incredible range of tea flavours, but our favourite is its take on the classic earl grey. The best-selling black tea has been given a fruity French twist, so along with the elegant bergamot, it also includes notes of sunflower, hibiscus and rose too. We think it makes a great stocking filler, and what's even better is the tea bags are plastic free. Made from cornstarch they're home compostable without worrying about putting plastic in there. It won't be their everyday tea, but it's certainly a reviving afternoon tea. Brew for 2-3 minutes for the best cuppa.
13/25Jarvis Pickle Pies, 12 pies, £54 from Jarvis Pickles.
Handmade in the Scottish borders, these pies are from independent maker, Jarvis Pickle Pie. Deliverable by post, it's not just the locals who get to enjoy these pies, the team have made fresh food gifting easy. They'll come chilled and you can keep them in the freezer for up to six months. Great for busy evenings or chilly wintery lunch times, you'll find a reason to eat them all up. There's 15 flavours to choose from, including veggie and vegan. Our favourites are blue cheese and pork, Moroccan lamb and vegan cauliflower curry. For every four pies bought, Jarvis Pickle donates one pie to Cyrenians, part of the FareShare network, which is given to vulnerable people.
14/25The Freddie Cheese and Beer Pairing, £45 from The Cheesegeek.
The Cheesegeek subscriptions have been leading the way for affordable and fun cheese boxes for a few years now. Taking it up a notch, their latest offering is a unique gift idea: pairing cheeses with craft beers.
Whilst their cheeses change seasonally, you can still expect your pack to include a hard, soft and blue cheese, which will most likely be paired with a pale ale, an PIA and a porter.
15/25Quarter Proof Gin, £22.45 from The Whisky Exchange.
It’s not a foodie gift guide without everyone's go-to spirit: gin. Everyone has a preference, from the straight up classic, to seaweed or citrus infused, or even a festive-flavoured tipple, but what about a lower ABV? There's always something to toast to during the festive period, so if you want to do so with less alcohol, Quarter gin is, as it sounds, a quarter of the ABV. Even the most discerning gin connoisseur will be pleased, as it still tastes just like the spirit. Match it with a chunky wedge of grapefruit for the ultimate citric tipple.
16/25Alziari Extra Virgin Olive Oil, £18 from Waitrose.
A good olive oil has the power to instantly upgrade a dish. True food loves will absolutely love unwrapping a bottle of the finest on Christmas morning. Made using cold extraction of ripe olives - a method that ensures the buttery flavour is still present in the oil - it is then pressed in a stone mill. It's a soft and fruity olive oil that's just perfect for lashing on bread and dipping other goodies into.
17/25Cream Cheese Truffles, £13.50 from Love Cocoa.
These chocolate truffles are made up of a cream cheese ganache and shells made from 55% dark chocolate. The latter is single origin, vegetarian, made without palm oil and the whole thing has plastic free packaging. The best part? The company plant trees in Kenya to help counter deforestation in Africa caused by the chocolate industry.
18/25Angela Hui Takeaway: Stories From a Childhood Behind a Counter, £12.77 from Amazon.
Angela's book, Takeaway, is her memoir about identity, food and family, based on her experience growing up as what she calls, ‘a takeaway kid.’ Her parents left Hong Kong and settled in the rural Welsh Valleys, opening their own Chinese takeaway restaurant, Lucky Star.
She writes about never feeling at home in Wales, nor in Hong Kong on trips to visit family, and closing the takeaway, 30 years after it first opened. It's an honest and immersive insightful read about how food shaped her life.
19/25Puglia Splatter Side Plate, £11.99 from Sous Chef.
20/25José Pizarro Pimentón de la Vera, £3 from José Pizarro.
Not all spices are made equal, some are produced by our favourite Spanish chef, José Pizarro, and make the perfect stocking filler.
Pimenton de La Vera, also known as smoked paprika, has the ability to absolutely change a dish. Made from agridulce Jariza peppers grown in the La Vera region of Extremadura, where José is from, they're handpicked and are slowly dried over oak wood for up to 15 days.
21/25Sea Salt Chocolate Thins, £15.95 from Rococo Chocolates.
Is there any better chocolatier than Rococo? Established on the King’s Road in London in 1983, it's had ample time to perfect its craft. The chocolates are rich and creamy, with delicate and masterful flavourings. The sea salt thins are something to be savoured, made with 65% dark chocolate and just a subtle amount of Anglesey sea salt which brings out the velvety rich flavour of the chocolate.
22/25Linen Napkins, set of four, £65 from Matilda Goad.
It's not just the eating of food that many cooks and eaters rejoice in, but the ceremony and DIY nature of it too. For insta-worthy tablescaping and dinner parties we love Matilda Goad's bold and cute napkins in clashing colours and scalloped edging. Made from linen, choose from seven colours, including pale blue and red, or lemon yellow and blue to name a few. They're generously sized at 50cmx50cm, sure to elevate your table, and best of all, they don't need to be ironed and are machine washable.
23/25Christmas Connoisseur Box, £165 from Panzer's.
Another great box to gift your festive host, or to buy if you're the one doing the hosting. With the deli's signature smoked salmon, a couple of top notch cheeses (Long Clawson Dairy stilton and Lancashire bomb cheese), port, Christmas fruit cake, a nut selection box, a milk chocolate with hazelnuts ad a dark chocolate bar with truffles.
24/25Le Creuset Stoneware Mug, £15 from John Lewis.
Everyone has a favourite mug, and tea or coffee lovers especially want to have the right vessel for the job. Enter this bright and bold number from the cast iron cookware experts Le Creuset. It’s like a dose of sunshine in the morning in the shade dijon, but if that’s not right for your giftee, there are 15 other shades to choose from.
25/25Ooni Koda 16 Gas Pizza Oven, £499 from John Lewis.
Pizza lovers will rejoice in the Ooni's latest offering. After all, who wouldn't want to indulge in their favourite Italian dish without even leaving the house.
The gas option makes it really easy to control the heat, and prevent them from burning, plus it's much quicker to turn on and off when hanger comes.
As pizzas cook so quickly in the oven (under a minute) you'll need to be able to turn them, so you can also buy the stainless steel paddle which means you can put them in, turn them around and remove them with ease. It’s a luxury gift the foodie in your life will be obsessed with.
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