At least twice a week my four-year-old son asks me what I am getting for Christmas. He’s started suggesting things and won’t accept the fact that Mammy really doesn’t need anything this year. Today he suggested “ingredients for your cooking, Mama” and it gave me a real giggle. The kid has noticed that his mother is a lover of food and cooking.

I am a total foodie through and through. I love cooking, eating out and if I’m watching TV you can be pretty sure it’s a cookery show of some description. It’s my thing. It also happens to be a thing for a lot of my close friends and family. Foodies attract foodies it would seem.

Food-related gifts are a great idea for Christmas. It is a real opportunity to treat someone with an ingredient, tool or experience that genuinely reflects their passion in life. These things tend to also be quite “extra”. Unnecessary things that the person would struggle to justify spending money on making it the perfect means of treating them over the holiday season.

Here are seven food-related gift ideas for the foodies in your life

I’ve spoken about it before but this is just an amazing experience. My husband and I have done them twice and we’ve bought them as gifts too. You spend a couple of hours learning how to make authentic Italian food and then you get to sit down and enjoy the food with wine as they transform the kitchen into a restaurant. I cannot recommend this enough. It is a group experience but very intimate at the same time with separate workstations.

I know this is a weird one but it is the BEST gift for a foodie. Proper aged balsamic vinegar is really pricey. It’s thick, syrupy and has been fermented for years. I bought my husband a middle-of-the-road bottle for about €30 from Taste Of Gusto and it gave him months of joy. It’s the kind of thing that tastes equally amazing with salad or in a dessert with strawberries. 

These are all the rage and with so many people following healthy eating plans like Slimming World, they have become a staple in domestic kitchen life. Crispy delicious chips without the added fat. It is brilliant for the whole family. The Tefal brand is the most popular and while it’s pricey it really is the business as it turns the chips as it cooks them so the result is crispy evenly cooked chips that are super fluffy on the inside too.

I recommend checking websites like Groupon, Deal Rush and PigsBack to pick up some brilliant offers. Many of these websites will have fantastic deals that are valid at weekends and available to use within six months. It is a great opportunity to treat someone to a dining experience without breaking the bank. The voucher will not display the price but rather the wording of what is included, for example: “two course meal for two people including glass of wine or beer”.

Any budding chef or foodie will love being able to dump an old useless pan in favour of a decent new one. It is a great gift idea!

I have many “fancy” ones gathering dust after years of never being used but something like One Yummy Mummy’s new cookbook is practical, easy to follow and will actually be used.

Cheese. All foodies love cheese. There are so many gorgeous cheese boards and varieties that can be picked up very reasonably in the likes of LIDL or ALDI. It is a lovely festive gift that will be totally enjoyed. Add a bottle of wine and that’s a foodie gift of dreams right there.