The 41 Best Gifts (2022) For Food People

By MacKenzie Chung Fegan

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Each year our staff and contributors round up the best gift ideas for cooks, eaters, and the kitchen-curious. Read on for our ultimate gift guide for all the food people on your list.

It's the season for togetherness, charity, goodwill toward mankind! Also presents. Mostly presents. While there are people on your list who require but a token, a trinket, a just-a-little-something (check out our list of gift ideas under $50 for those folks), there are others who require something…more. For your loving hubs, your friend who's had a rough year, or your favorite child (you know which one), these are the big-ticket holiday gifts that will bring a little extra sparkle to the season.

Gift your aunt with the dusty fake orchids a dried arrangement in one of these sculptural vases made from recycled paper. It will last just as long as faux flowers but is a serious home decor upgrade.

Making rice just got cuter. This ceramic Japanese rice cooker (from Hario, which makes some of our favorite coffee gear) whistles like a tea kettle when it's time to take it off the flame. Measuring is a snap as well—add enough rice to reach the first line on the interior of the pot, then water up to the second line and you’re good to go.

These hefty marble vessels are handcrafted north of Bangkok from local marble in sumptuous shades of pink, yellow, and brown. Use the shallow stand as a catch-all tray and keep your A-List fruit on display in the pedestaled bowl.

Artist Janie Korn crafts candles that look like piemento-stuffed olives, shrimp cocktail, and the face of Tavi Gevinson, but I’m partial to this likeness of an Italian rainbow cookie.

We’ve never met a panettone we didn't like, but Olivieri 1882's are in a class of their own. Even your bro whose whole personality is that he studied in Florence will be impressed. Go with the classic or wild out with triple chocolate or salted caramel apricot. On the off chance you have any left over, get ready for the best French toast of your life.

For your dad who is still buying pre-ground coffee, this incredibly handsome countertop grinder from Fellow, which has recently been upgraded with even better burrs, will take his Aeropress, pour-over, or French press to the next level. If Pops is an espresso drinker, though, this gadget isn't for him; get the Mazzer Mini.

These opulent goblets ooze holiday cheer. They’re a holiday season extravagance—the geometric crystal stems are hand cut, and the etching on the side of the glasses is incredibly delicate—so this is not the best gift for your clumsy friend.

The gift that is for your clumsy friend? Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken or chipped pottery using gold lacquer, and this kit contains everything she’ll need to mend that cracked teacup.

If you’re traveling for the holidays, gift your host a generously sized mug from Mudwitch and then steal it for yourself every morning. San Francisco ceramist Viviana Matsuda's wares sell out quickly, so keep an eye on their Instagram for info about drops and restocks.

No shade to those heritage French brands, but these sleek enameled cast-iron Dutch ovens designed by chef Sergio Herman for Serax have us feeling weak at the knees. These are heirloom pieces that will have your future grandkids remarking on your exquisite taste.

If you’ve ever thought, "This bowl is great, but I wish it had three anatomically accurate legs and came with faux leather slides in their own tiny shoebox," boy, are you in luck.

This brass dabba from Diaspora Co. is a thoughtful gift for the organization enthusiast. It’ll keep their most-used spices neat and within reach instead of perilously stacked on a shelf next to the stove. Each piece is hand-spun by a single craftsman in Bangalore who has been honing his trade for over 25 years, and it comes with your choice of seven jars of high-quality, ethically sourced spices (including Diaspora's best-selling turmeric).

This 53"-long runner, made from reclaimed denim linen, is the rare gift that's appropriate for both your Deadhead uncle and your Gen Z cousin.

Kyiv-based Gunia Project launched their Freedom collection of ceramics and accessories in response to the Russian invasion. This hand-painted, gilt-edged platter features St. George—a.k.a. St. Yuri, an important figure in Ukrainian culture—but instead of the traditional dragon, he is vanquishing a Russian warship.

Let your cottagecore nibling live out their pastoral fantasies with this extremely charming picnic basket from Kazi Goods, handwoven in Ghana.

This trio of liqueurs hails from Haiti, and the labels are reason enough to add these to your home bar. Meaning "bitter leaf" in Creole, Fey Anmè can be subbed for sweet vermouth. Use the Kafé Anmè in an espresso martini, and substitute the Zoranj for the orange liqueur in your next margarita.

It's no secret that we’re Team Cross-Back Apron over at BA—they’re comfy, flattering, and not all that dissimilar to the shapeless smocks I wear out to dinner. Hand-loomed in Guatemala, these utility aprons from Minna are made of heavy-weight cotton and come in cheery colors like mint green and golden honey.

It's a classic for a reason. Carnegie Deli's 8" cheesecake hits just the right textural spot between dense and creamy, and it's not overly sweet. Send it to your best friend who moved to L.A. but left her heart in New York.

If it's trending on TikTok your husband wants it, and he won't stop talking about the GE Opal nugget ice maker. It's a splurge, but for a certain type of beverage lover, it’ll be life-changing.

Gemstones? In this economy? If a real emerald isn't in the cards, give your SO a box of these crunchy-on-the-outside, gummy-on-the-inside vegan sweets that are dupes for precious stones. They come in flavors like yuzu and hibiscus-cranberry, are made with agar-agar—that seaweed-derived gel you may remember from preparing petri dishes in science class—and are elegantly packaged in luxe jewelry boxes.

If you’re going to give someone napkin rings, make sure they’re just the right balance of glam and creepy.

You can find cast-iron pans for much, much less than this beauty beloved by BA food director Chris Morocco, but they won't be as lightweight or polished as smoothly as a freshly Zambonied ice rink.

The markings on these printed linen napkins are inspired by First Nations pottery and tools unearthed in Southern Manitoba, Canada. For Anishinaabe designer Destiny Seymour, these patterns belong not only in museums, frozen in time, but also at the tables where we gather with loved ones.

Hand-blown in Brooklyn by artist Grace Whiteside, these glass tumblers come in any array of colors, from moody plum to highlighter yellow, and feature bulbous bubbles begging to be booped.

You get a salmon belly! You get a salmon belly! A 5-lb. box of smoked king salmon bellies from Alaska Gold Seafood fishermen's co-op contains somewhere between 22 and 45 individual pieces, depending on size, so you can hand them out to coworkers with reckless abandon. Cut from wild-caught king salmon and cured with sugar, salt, and soy sauce, there's a reason this rich, fatty cut is often called salmon candy.

A three-month subscription from Trade Coffee would make a great gift, but for something a little more festive, opt for this Celebration Box. The initial package will arrive with three bags—light, medium, and dark roast—from one of Trade's partner roasters like Alma Coffee, a Georgia-based roaster run by a 5th-generation coffee farmer and a military veteran. After sampling all three, your lucky recipient can take a quiz and Trade will send them a fourth bag based on their preferences.

Two natural winemakers (Chris Brockway and Bridget Leary of California's Broc Cellars) and a furniture designer (Rafi Ajl of the Long Confidence) walk into a glassblowing workshop (Glow Glass Studio) and out come these gorgeous low-profile wine glasses. I use mine for small slurps of Frappato and also nips of whiskey and hot tea.

A festive spin on the traditional New Mexican ristra, these chiles are organically grown by Longer Table Farm in Sonoma. After the wreath has done its duty as holiday decor, the chiles can be used for tamales, bean soup, or the ultimate breakfast burrito.

No one will care if your lettuces are past their prime if they’re served in this statement acacia wood bowl, originally designed in Denmark in the ‘60s. It comes with two matching serving spoons, and at 16" across it's sized for dinner parties and big families.

Use this footed clay tray, handcrafted in Colombia, to hold lemons or fresh avocados—or to serve a party-size amount of guacamole.

Some people collect stamps; I collect bar carts. (This is because I also collect bottles, an occupational hazard.) If the situation gets so dire that I need to add a fourth(!) to my home, this colorful mod cart is next in line. With a steel frame and sturdy plastic shelves, it's a playful way to display bottles, barware, and bitters.

These small-batch limited-edition mezcals are meant to be sipped and savored, but we’d consider buying them for the gorg ceramic bottles alone. The Tepeztate expression, distilled from marbled agaves that take 25 years to reach maturity, is especially exceptional.

We can't think of a better stocking stuffer than socks, and we can't think of better socks than the ones in the BA Merch Store.

This gold-plated brass bottle chiller is a functional centerpiece if we’ve ever seen one. Fill the middle compartment with ice to keep the New Year's Eve Champagne cold until midnight.

Floral tea company The Qi sells dried flowers like rose and chrysanthemum that bloom in hot water. It’d be a shame to hide the blossoms behind the porcelain walls of a regular teapot, so they collaborated with designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen on this borosilicate glass teapot, which is a stunner in its own right. It's just as good for coffee or hojicha as it is for herbal and floral brews.

This 60x60" square of organic cotton from Brooklyn design studio Fefo looks like a painter's drop cloth dyed with splotches of radicchio and rose. Use it as a tablecloth in the winter and a picnic blanket come summer.

This literal chalice is giving me strong debauched Roman emperor energy. Made of lapis lazuli, serpentine, and brass, the Onix Cup from Colombian designer Natalia Criado is the ideal gift for the lovable Nero in your life.

Modern and minimalist, this steel Hanukkah menorah comes in elegant neutral tones like charcoal and off-white as well as navy blue, rust red, and Dijonnaise yellow.

Made in Uganda from sustainably harvested acacia wood and cow horn, this trivet from xN Studio is both form and function.

Do a little holiday shopping for yourself. After you’re done hosting your in-laws, cue up the Hallmark Christmas movie of your choice, pop open a bag of potato chips, and sip a sopping wet martini out of this softly angular, mouth-blown Italian coupe from East Fork and R+D Lab. Self-care, baby.