So…food gifts…where do you stand on these?

Are you of the, “What a great idea! Such a personal gift made with love”, “Can’t wait to use those preserved lemons in my next tagine” or “Stingy f*****r!”

TV Chefs and food experts try to convince us that a food gift would be a great present to receive – but most individuals would conceive it to be a cheap gift. Others sense it to be almost like a charity thing, “food gift at Xmas.” I must agree with the sentiment heralded by chefs, however, must clarify what I mean and would accept by a food gift:

a personalised, bespoke, homemade, carefully packaged gift.

Perhaps not some BHS random jar of something!

Some people may see the idea of a food gift as thrifty and a cheap option – but it is not about the money spent – as buying the ingredients and glass jars/bottles can sometimes be quite costly – and expensive gifts can often be inappropriate or unwanted! For me it’s about sharing with the recipient my time, thoughtfulness and newfound expertise (and clearly none of my humility!)

…BUT…

I do feel that you must know those who you are giving these gifts to well. As they are going to appreciate your gift and not see it as a cheats way out of Xmas shopping.

Some of my staple gifts are Chilli Jam (which gets pre-orders throughout the year!) and biscotti (often made with a limoncello combo). This year florentines, peanut brittle and cookie mix in a jar were also part of the food gifts available.

And having given them out to my Christmas Party guests I can’t but hope that they’ve enjoyed every bite and those with children have appreciated the cookies in a jar – which are ridiculously easy to make following the on jar instructions: