25 Fantastic Gifts For The Food Lovers In Your Life
Scratching your head on what to give that food lover in your life? Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered. From flavour bombs to high-tech tools and more gifts that keep on giving, these food- and drink-centric presents are sure to inspire and satisfy even the pickiest of palates.
Bambüsi Bamboo Cheese & Charcuterie Board
Handmade with eco-friendly organic bamboo, this is the ultimate cheeseboard, with a slide-out drawer that stores four cheese knives, plus three labels and chalk markers. The non-porous surface means it doesn’t absorb odours or stains; its generous size means there’s plenty of room to place all those salty, meaty, and sweet treats. The wide, grooved borders are perfect for crackers, nuts, olives and more.
$63, amazon.ca
Bar From Afar’s Spiced Rum Holiday Cocktail Kit
Making happy hour more festive and bright, these speakeasy-style cocktail kits from 15-year Ottawa-based hospitality veteran Greg O’Brien and his partner Sarah are sure to keep the holidays spirited. Delivered right to your recipient’s door, each box contains everything needed to make four, eight, or 16 cocktails including locally-produced spirits, fresh, house-made mixers, garnishes, a small solo cup to help with measurements and a mason jar to use to shake the drinks. There’s also a QR code that launches easy-to-follow instructions for rum cocktails that has a citrusy profile, is cardamom-spiked, has a creamy body, or is sweet and fruity! Available in Ottawa and the GTA. To be consumed within 2 weeks of receipt.
Starts at $70 + HST, barfromafar.com
Bokksu
Excite curious taste buds with this monthly subscription box, packed full of traditional-to-modern Japanese sweets, treats and teas that are hand-curated and sourced directly from centuries-old small family businesses. Delivered directly to your recipient’s door, the snack bundles change monthly around different cultural themes, festivals and seasonal flavours and come with a guide outlining each product’s origin and ingredients (including allergens). Expect treats like Osaka uni rice crackers or Kyoto Matcha chocolate cake among the 20-plus items in each kit.
$50 each or $40 per month for a 12-month subscription, bokksu.com
Chantal Classic Tea kettle
For a classic, fashionable showpiece, the often-replicated original stovetop teakettle is a kitchen icon admired for its minimalist design and durability. Founded by Heida Thurlow, the first woman in the U.S. to launch and run a cookware company, these premium enamel-on-steel kettles have a flat, wide base which allows for maximum contact (and thus, rapid boiling). The two-tone Hohner harmonica whistle is an exclusive detail, and the kettle comes with a quilted mitt for the handle. While the cobalt blue is still the OG finish, it’s also available in stainless steel, copper and—new for 2021—marigold yellow.
$192, thebay.com
Coffee scoop with bag clip
A 2-in-1 stainless steel tool that both measures out your morning cuppa and keeps your coffee fresh. Each long-handled scoop doubles up as a heavy-duty crocodile clip in a choice of gold, rainbow, rose gold, silver or black.
$13, amazon.ca
Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown: Recipes and Stories from the Birthplace of Chinese American Food
A thoughtful deep dive into the past, present and future of Chinese-American food by Brandon Jew and Tienlon Ho, this cookbook taps into the personal stories and insights behind the ground-breaking Michelin-recognized San Francisco restaurant and its dishes. Packed with mouth-watering photos, it’s also a feast of stories, along with 90 complex recipes. Some dishes, like the Liberty duck, require over two dozen ingredients as well as specialized equipment (including a bicycle pump!). However, less… involved alternatives and substitutions are also presented.
$54, chapters.ca
Cuisipro Herb Keeper
Possibly the next best thing to having a home garden, the Herb Keeper comes in two sizes and can conveniently fit in most refrigerator doors. This tidy and attractive storage solution helps extend the life of herbs through a unique suspended tray system that keeps stems immersed in water, but lifts for easy access to the herbs it holds. Also works for asparagus.
$32, zestspot.com
Dragon Glassware Wine Glasses
If spending a year toasting over Zoom calls has proven anything, it’s that stemmed glassware is prone to tipping over. With a bold design inspired by ocean waves, this handmade option has curved indentations that act as an aerator and make it easy to hold.
$75 for a set of 4, amazon.ca
Digital Infrared Gun/Thermocouple Thermometer
While slightly spendy, there’s nothing quite like achieving perfect culinary results or guaranteeing food safety through accurate temperature readings in less than a few seconds, especially when it’s done through a probe. Using infrared and thermocouple technologies, this one-button operated device is an advanced solution that measures surface temperatures from -60 to 350°C, while internal temperatures are accurately gauged with a 1.5-mm thin tip probe.
$292, zestpot.com
DraftPour
Replicating the fresh-from-the-tap experience, DraftPour converts any can or bottle of beer into a nitro-style draft. Using a microfoam technology that’s based on sound waves and fluid dynamics, dispensed beers are capped with uniform, tiny bubbles that help enhance the aroma, flavour and mouthfeel that characterize draft pours. Comes in five different finishes.
Starts at $190, fizzics.ca
Gargoyle Wine Club
With multiple package options, this delicious and unpretentious Canadian wine subscription is curated by a team of top Canadian sommeliers and every bottle sold gives someone access to clean water for a year in collaboration with water.org. Choose from sommelier-selected packages, non-subscription curated wine boxes, a whisky club, plus a 1:1 wine concierge service where co-owners Will Predhomme and Scott Zebarth can assist with a personalized selection.
Starts at $237 for a 3-month subscription that delivers 2 bottles of red, white or a mix per month, gargoylewineclub.com
Glob Bag
These reusable shopping bags can be folded up for compact storage; when expanded, their storage pouch becomes a pocket that’s perfect for your keys or mobile phone. The bags are each made with four to ten recycled plastic bottles and are shipped in compostable mailers. Plus, every month the company donates one percent of their sales to CoalitionWILD, a youth conservation organization Choose from a see-through mesh sling, a tidy rectangular shoulder bag, or an oversized tote with six exterior pockets that’s sized for bottles. Available in a rainbow of colours.
US$32-36, glob.land
The Graze Company Agate Cheese Knives Set
Adding a luxurious touch to your cheese platter, this agate set of cheese knives by Vancouver’s The Graze Company is crafted from stainless steel, with handles made from a slice of glittering agate stone. Plated in brass, each custom piece is unique due to the natural materials used.
$125, thegrazecompany.com
Ninja Foodi Smart XL 6-in-1 Indoor Grill
For all-season cooking, this impressive indoor countertop grill does it all: In addition to searing, roasting, baking, broiling and dehydrating, it also has a 4-qt basket for air frying. While compact and relatively portable, its extra-large capacity means it can prepare family-sized meals (read: up to 6 steaks or 24 hot dogs) at the touch of a button.
$400, ninjakitchen.ca
Pampshades
Created by Japanese artist Yukiko Morita, these handcrafted lights are made from actual baked baguettes, croissants, shokupan and dinner rolls that are upcycled from a local Kyoto bakery. Yukiko carefully removes the crumb, replacing it with a series of lights, then coats the crust in resin to produce quirky cute lampshades.
$61-173 from Pampshade or for $95-250 at Archives in Toronto
Shades of Gray Rabbitry & Indigenous Pet Treats
These wholesome dog and cat treats are made in Roseneath, Ont. with natural, non-processed ingredients like free-range rabbit, elk, venison, bison and beaver.
Starts at $7, indigenoustreats.ca
Silver Swallow Luxury Kombucha
Created in Ottawa, this champagne-inspired unpasteurized kombucha uses all-natural ingredients including silver swallow, a rare organic white tea that’s hand-picked in Yunnan, China. With notes of clover, wildflowers, honey and tropical fruit, it’s a sophisticated, effervescent, non-alcoholic (0.5% ABV) option that can be served on its own, but also pairs with seafood, fruit and cheeses.
$19, silverswallow.co
Simit and Chai Brunch Box
Send taste buds to the Middle East with a brunch box that feeds four and is jam-packed with 16 fresh and flavourful goodies from this downtown Toronto Turkish bakery and café. Besides everything you’ll need to make shakshuka, including pastirma (dry cured beef), eggs and creamy Bulgarian feta, it also comes with jars of homemade hummus, red pepper paste, and jam, plus a choice of masala chai mix, coffee or tea, as well as half-dozen pre-baked and frozen simit (a bagel-esque bread encrusted in sesame seeds).
$100, simitandchai.co
The Spice Trader Advent Calendar
Spice up the holiday countdown of the gourmand with this sophisticated alternative to the traditional advent calendar. Filled with 24 tins of spices, herbs, sugars, honey, salts, oils, and vinegars, as well as historical context and suggestions for how to use the treat of the day.
$195, thespicetrader.ca
Stasher Reusable Silicone Food Bag
Freezer-, microwave-, oven- and dishwasher-safe, these reusable, non-toxic silicon storage pouches replace single-use plastic bags. Available in a wide range of sizes, shapes and colours, you can even use them for sous vide cooking, and for making microwave popcorn or rice.
Starts at $28, including $119 for a 7-piece starter pack, stasherbag.com
Vahdam Advent Calendar 2021
Give the gift of a warm cuppa with this elegantly packaged selection of premium teas from a certified climate- and plastic-neutral tea purveyor. Featuring 24 of their best-selling fresh handpicked loose-leaf teas sourced directly from farmers in India, the online business also directs one percent of their revenue toward the education of their farmers’ children. (There’s also a tea bag version.)
$70, amazon.ca
Viking Professional Cookware
Few things bring more joy than great kitchen tools. Case in point: Viking professional quality cookware . Available in traditional stainless steel, copper or high-performance non-stick, single pieces like a 12-inch fry pan or 3.4-quart covered sauté pan make wonderful additions to an existing cookware set, or splurge on the premium 5-ply commercial grade line.
Starts at $515 for the 5-ply fry pan, $2,559 for the 10-piece 5-ply professional cookware set, $1960 for the 11-piece 3-ply stainless steel and aluminum cookware set.
That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-life Recipes For Every Day Of The Week: A Cookbook
With recipes for every occasion (and everyday)—including spaghetti with melted cauliflower sauce and fat noodles with pan-roasted mushrooms— the latest from the James Beard Award-winning author (and former Bon Appetit food director) Carla Lalli Music is designed specifically to help home cooks gain confidence and skill.
$47, chapters.ca
Au Pied de Cochon Maple Condensed Milk
Martin Picard is known for many things. Besides his gastronomic temple, Au Pied de Cochon, the celebrated Montreal chef is also an author and television personality. When it comes to maple syrup, Picard doesn’t only have a seasonal restaurant—Au Pied de Cochon Sugar Shack—and cookbook, but also a prepared foods line that includes a swoon-worthy maple condensed milk. Scrumptious spread over toast or used to sweeten a steaming mug of coffee; there’s also a host of recipes to use the addictive creamy sweet pantry staple.
Graf Lantz Merino Wool Felt Trivets and Coasters
Durable and attractive, these table protectors add a bold splash of colour to the tables while protecting it from heat and scratches. Made from German merino sheep wool felt, these trivets, placemats and coasters aren’t only stain resistant and water repellent, but also biodegradable and scratch-free. Select from a host of sizes, shapes, and collections, including just-released colours champagne, sage and mahogany.
Pieces start at $14, graf-lantz.com
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