The Ultimate Foodie Gift Guide

There are cooks, and then there are food lovers. The two qualities don’t always overlap in the same person. Though we tip our caps to all the cooks—amateur and semi-pro alike—out there, we have a special appreciation for the true epicure, too.

These gifts are for the person who knows where to brunch (before it’s mobbed); the new boutique chocolates you’ll love (before their prices double); the one who introduces you to rosé vinegar (before that was a thing). She knows what she’s getting at the hot new restaurant in town before you’ve even opened the menu, because she scoured the offerings online in advance.

This roundup of gifts is for people with stellar taste, because having precise palates and a love of all things edible is something we have in common.

1. Tea Fit for a King

Pinkies out! Treat your loved one like royalty with tea that Fortnum & Mason originally crafted for King Edward VII in 1902. This aromatic combination of flowery pekoe from Ceylon and Assam is a delight, and comes with a brass and silver teapot-shaped infuser that makes this a joy-inducing gift.

2. VSOP Rosé Vinegar

As sprightly and unique as it sounds, this very special rosé vinegar contains Albana, Trebbiano and Montuni white grape must from the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. A Williams Sonoma exclusive made in Napa, it is ideal for the wine-lover or salad-lover in your life, as it adds an extra sparkle to dressings, crudo, marinades and more.

3. Regalis Truffle Lovers Hamper

For the person who always orders the shaved truffles for his pasta, no matter the cost, this is the gift: a luxe basket of truffle treats from a famous vendor. There is, of course, a whole black Italian summer truffle, but there is also every stripe of truffly accoutrements one could want. There’s white winter truffle oil for drizzling over pastas. A popcorn salt spiked with truffles. A shaver for shaving truffles. Black truffle honeycomb, featuring Georgian honey and an American truffle. Even the hamper itself is beautiful, a reusable wicker basket that’s ideal for summer picnics.

4. Flour Bakery Frozen Cookie Dough

True cookie lovers know there’s nothing better than having top-notch logs of dough at the ready in the freezer for when the craving strikes. That’s precisely why we sell this quartet of high-end dough from famed Boston baker Joanne Chang, of Flour Bakery & Café. There’s a kitchen-sink cookie with pecans, TCHO chocolate, coconut and chewy toasted oats, a spicy ginger-molasses number, a triple-chocolate-chip, and oatmeal raisin. Talk about sweet dreams.

5. Galaxy Chocolate and Plain Croissants

The best croissants are the freshest ones. If you’re not reading this from Paris, we’d argue that the best are those you bake up at home using Galaxy croissant dough. Master pastry chef Jean-Yves Charon prepares our classic and chocolate croissants in the traditional French style, using butter and ultra-thin layers of yeast dough, laboriously folding and cutting the pastry by hand. Belgian Callebaut chocolate nestles inside some of the croissants, while the others are beautifully buttery. All the lucky recipient needs to do is let them rise overnight, then turn on the oven.

6. 12 Months of Cheese Collection

Comté. La Tur. Bayley Hazen. Here is a greatest-hits compilation to make a cheese lover break a sweat. Each month we’ll deliver a trio or quartet of marvelous fromage to the doorstep of someone you love. There are Spanish cheese and Italian ones, American and (of course) French numbers. Perhaps they’ve tried Manchego, but have they tasted La Peral? Make their world a little tastier.

7. America’s Best Dates

Those who obsess know that there are dates, and then there are dates. These are the latter: fruit that might as well be candy, it’s so sweet and addictive. These organic Medjool dates hail from California’s Rancho Meladuco Farm, in the date-growing mecca at the north end of the Salton Sea. They’re as wondrous on a cheese board as they are packed into a child’s lunch box or doled out on road trips.