Presents for foodies 1

that they'll actually like

India Knight

Nov 17, 2023

I’ve got loads of these and therefore limited space for words. Let’s go!

This tea

Delicious tea, beautiful caddy, £8.

This cheese

Delicious, brie-like, TRUFFLED, lots of sizes from mini to giant. They also make an outstanding ghee out of their raw butter.

These sauces

My God, these Poons sauces. They are so good. You can also buy them individually.

And these wontons

Poons’ wontons are the best wontons I have ever eaten and you can have them posted to you nationwide. You can even get a subscription to them! Regular wonton deliveries! What a present that would make.

A giant Toblerone with your name on it

It’s a giant (750g) Toblerone. What more is there to say? Except that it also comes in a non-personalised FOUR AND A HALF KILO version which is about as long as an adult human torso. I wonder if it’s made to scale. The chunks would be too big to break off without e.g. a saw. You’d have to put it on the floor and sort of gnaw at it, like in a dystopian film about societal breakdown.

This cookbook stand

I have one on the worktop and I love it. It is handsome, robust and really well-made (in Germany). Fits even fat books.

This ham

Smoked in Suffolk since 1820 - they still occupy the same building. The pigs are totally free-range, which tragically is only true of 3% of British pigs. Really good hams and bacon (plus much else besides). They used to make ham for the late Queen.

This ceramic jug for celery to have with your cheese, or this butter dish, or this cheese platter

All illustrated by the great John Broadley, who draws the divine menus (and much else) for Quo Vadis. Is ‘illustrated’ the right word for celery jugs? Never mind. Look how nice.

This Tupperware from IKEA

Not a very good picture, but very good (not flimsy) lidded bowls that nest within each other and therefore don’t take up much space. I use these all the time. They’re a tenner the set.

A Thermapen

Takes all the guesswork out of cooking meat. Invaluable for roasts and for barbecues and, obviously, incredibly useful for Christmas turkeys (it’s perfectly done when the plumpest part of the thigh is 70 degrees). Lots of colours.