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My favorite category to gift from is food and dining. If you consider the breadth of options—readymade snacks, hosting essentials, kitchen sidekicks, beautiful cookbooks, specialty ingredients—there’s really something for everyone. I spend all year making note of new pantry staples, cool gear, and unique tabletop finds to share during gifting season, from brands big and small. This year’s cohort of presents starts at just $10 and includes ceremonial-grade matcha, a sweet wood butter box, ice cream-worthy spoons, and California citrus.
Best Food Gifts for People Who Love to Eat
Items to wrap up that let them dig right in: bonbons inspired by winter flavors, nearly a pound of pistachios, tinned spaghetti seaweed, and more.
Best Gifts for People Who Love to Drink
Tie a bow around any of these sips and tote along to the holidays—they’ll be thrilled. Non-alcoholic apertifs, Danish coffee, and magnums of Chablis are bonafide crowd pleasers.
Best Cookbooks to Gift
Perhaps my favorite category of reading material is cookbooks. The breadth of cuisine and technique among 2025 releases was far-reaching, and made it difficult to narrow down the most giftable. Here’s my edit, with many that would look just as good on a coffee table as splattered with oil after much use.
Amazon
Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love by Samin Nosrat
Amazon
Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing by Niki Russ Federman, Josh Russ Tupper, and Joshua David Stein
Amazon
Kwéyòl / Creole: Recipes, Stories, and Tings from a St. Lucian Chef's Journey by Nina Compton with Osayi Endolyn
Best Food Gifts for Cooks
Special spices, sauces, and dried goods are perfect stocking stuffers or additions to a gift with multiple components. Pair cocktail salt with mixers or glassware, soy sauce with a wok, or jaggery with tea. And how cute is this dog-shaped pasta?
Best Cookware Gifts
Well-designed cookware that can also hang out on a countertop is always a good idea. Consider a Japanese grater that can stand on its own, a retro scale, or an Italian meatball scoop.
Best Gifts for Hosts
Cheeky napkins made to be attached via button hole, exquisite cordial glasses, and cute ice cream cups are just a few items hosts will adore
