Cookbook
While being a natural go-to gift for the discerning foodie, chances are their bookshelves are already stuffed with Jamie Oliver cookbooks. Yes, friends and relatives have had exactly the same idea before and no, just because they’re a foodie doesn’t mean their hearts are in cooking for themselves.
If you’re set on the idea however, how about making note of the restaurants he or she has visited? That way you can look up which of the foodie’s favourite chefs have released some recipe-based literature.
Vegetable Garden
If Raymond Blanc can source his ingredients from the garden, then why can’t anyone else? Well, one might encounter some trouble attempting to cultivate the 90 different types of vegetable at that Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons boasts. Saying that, there’s nothing quite like nurturing tomatoes on the vine before mercilessly devouring them in a spaghetti bolognaise sauce.
Lunch in a Michelin Star Restaurant
Much to many people’s surprise, eating out for lunch at a world-renowned restaurant isn’t that expensive. Lunch for two under the most decorated Michelin star chef, for example, is a reasonable £44 each, but bragging rights are free.
Supper Club
If your foodie is a particularly sociable individual dying to meet people just as conscious of what they put in their mouths, then a good place for them might be a supper club.
Supper clubs are becoming increasingly trendy in London and memberships are becoming more difficult to obtain. Banquet gives you a good idea of what a supper club is supposed to be, with ‘edible experiences’ running once a month.
DIY Molecular Gastronomy Kit
One look and this sparks chemistry set nostalgia. There are certainly no fewer chemicals to play with either, with a plethora of additives thrown into the mix.
The ingeniously named MOLECULE-R kit is designed to provide an accessible way into the art of molecular gastronomy and a ‘democratisation’ of the niche cuisine.
Wine Tasting
It’s important to remember that foodies aren’t snobs – they’re connoisseurs and tastemakers, often regarded as food oracles by their friends. In order to treat them as such, they need feeding the best of the best.
A good place to start is at The Montague on the Gardens in Bloomsbury, where one can taste some of the best reds to ever come out of South Africa. The Hannibal blend is one to particularly savour, with a rating of 99/100 in the SA Wine Index.
Mobile Foodie Survival Kit
There’s nothing worse than cooking up a beef ragù only to find you’re all out of Oregano. Fortunately, The Foodie Survival Kit, containing 12 individual spices and herbs, does not carry that problem with it.
The fact it’s designed to slot into your backpack means that you’ll never be caught short with your granulated garlic back home in the larder.
Le Creuset
There’s no other way of putting it – no cook can live without a Le Creuset. Their casserole dishes in particular are virtually indestructible, last just short of a lifetime, and are great for anything from pot roasts to cake baking. Not only that, they tend to add a dash of colour to the kitchen.
An Extravagant Dinner
There’s a reason the foodie became a foodie, and normally that reason is thanks to an exquisite dining experience.
There are those restaurants that like to employ luxuriousness in moderation. Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester does exactly the opposite, from the silver luminescent curtain to the sublime food that has earned the restaurant three Michelin stars. Naturally, these are just some of the aspects that make it such a desirable gift for foodies.
Nobu at Home
This gift is reserved for those who are all for going no holds barred. Eating out at home might sound like the world’s biggest paradox, but the fact this restaurant consistently serves the likes of George Clooney, Natalie Portman, and Madonna, might indicate their typical clientele seeks Nobu’s food out of the paparazzi’s gaze.
