If you’ve got a friend who’s just like me – an absolute food-obsessed monster – then you’re probably wondering how you can indulge their love of food when you’re buying them a gift.
Thankfully, this couldn’t be easier.
With food being such a big part of our life, and with it becoming an increasingly popular industry, there are so many ideas out there for your food-loving friends and family.
Here are some of the coolest ideas I could think of (if my friends and family would also like to pay attention to this list, please!):
- Cookery Courses
Some avid foodies just love eating out, in which case, a cookery course might not be for them. However, if your friend believes they’re a budding master chef, a cooking class could be just what they need to hone their skills.
You could start local, with colleges and night-time classes that teach certain foods or styles, e.g. Italian, classic French, Spanish or a mixture. Or, if they have a favourite chef, you may be able to bag them a ticket for their own cooking courses. For example, Rick Stein (who’s one of my all-time faves) has his own cookery school. Here you can choose what type of food they’d like to cook (e.g. vegetarian, meat, fish, shellfish, baking or game) and the style of lesson you’d like to book them. These vary from evenings of cooking to four-day events.
- Foraging Masterclasses
Another increasingly popular pastime for foodies is foraging. This wonderful activity shows you what you can find in your local area and how you can turn it into tasty dishes. Mat Follas is one of the industry’s leading foragers and offers his own Wild Food Foraging Course. This involves walking along Chesil Beach to find food before enjoying a delicious lunch that’s been inspired by these foraged items.
Equally, if this is for a special birthday or you want to join in on the treat and extend it by going on holiday too, you might want to look for foraging holidays (yes, there really is such a thing!). And this not only gives you the chance to forage in different areas and climates, but it also gives you and your food-loving friend the chance to explore an entirely different cuisine. Win, win!
- Foodie Hampers
The first two options can get quite expensive, especially if you want to book celebrity-chef courses. However, you can offer just as much wow factor for your friends by putting together your own food-inspired hamper. And thanks to courier services like Parcel2Go, it’s simple (and cost-effective) to post your hamper if you’re not going to see your friend around their birthday. In fact, any company that can provide chilled food delivery is suitable for this purpose.
Ideas include hampers that are full of rare vegetables and recipes, picnic hampers that you can both enjoy, hampers that include all the ingredients for a recipe from their favourite chef, a cheese & wine hamper or a luxurious chilled food delivery hamper.
One thing’s for sure, when it comes to gifts that are centred upon food, it couldn’t be easier to find inspiration for any budget. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to book myself on a foraging course…
