Your 2022 Foodie Gift Guide

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The story below is from our November/December 2022 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

We share 10 perfect presents for the foodie who has everything!

Your favorite foodie friend takes their nosh seriously, whether it’s the restaurant go-er who lives for celebrating the weekend with a Sunday Funday brunch or the serious home cook who relishes a cooking project. But what to get them that they don’t already have?  Sure, a restaurant gift certificate or a beautiful bottle of olive oil is always a fail-safe option. But we really love the idea of gifting unique food-related experiences and locally made goodies that support small businesses in our community. Here are ten perfect presents for celebrating the season and your favorite food-loving people.

Unique Spice Blends from Spice Titan Seasonings

We love our red pepper flakes and seasoned salt as much as the next person, but for a spice pantry upgrade, Spice Titan Seasonings is tops. Matt Rose founded his Roanoke company in late 2020 with a line-up of small batch seasonings, BBQ rubs and salt and pepper blends that quickly earned a loyal following at the Grandin Village farmers market. Rose prides himself on showcasing quality spices spun into unique flavor combinations.

Bestsellers include Egg-Vocado, for your avocado toast or morning eggs upgrade; Malabar Pepper, a blackening-esque seasoning with a butcher grind black pepper base and brown chipotle powder; and Kick’n Curry, featuring jalapeno granules and an Indian curry blend, which Rose says can be used on all manner of proteins and veggies, but also to elevate mac ‘n’ cheese.

The newest addition is a Cajun blend with cayenne, Spanish paprika and oregano that’s perfect for sprinkling over crispy French fries or seasoning proteins. Next up is a bread dipping blend with a ginger-chili flavor profile that will also be sold at Bread Craft downtown (pair with a baguette and a bottle of your favorite olive oil for a standout host gift). Spices can be ordered at Spicetitan.com.

Curated Charcuterie Board from Crème & Crumb

We love an edible gift, and charcuterie and cheese boards are always a crowd pleaser. But if you want a truly Instagram-worthy spread that’s also portable, leave the assembly to Crème & Crumb. Owner Mary Wynne Imhof offers three different sizes, but for holiday gift giving, we’re partial to the Happy Hour, which serves two as a meal and four as a snack. The disposable box includes a beautifully arranged mix of three cheeses, two meats, olives, crackers, fruit, nuts and a mini jar of honey, plus a knife for slicing.

You can choose a future date for when you’d like to pick up the box, so there’s an opportunity to pair your gift with a destination, say a happy hour at a local winery or brewery. Imhof also makes seasonal boxes, like a Super Bowl-ready box with homemade soft pretzels and pimento cheese, or a Valentine’s Day candy board. This holiday season, she’ll bring back her popular hot chocolate boxes stocked with homemade marshmallows, chocolate dipped spoons and cocoa mix.

All the Gadgets from Linens & Ladles Kitchen Shoppe

One might think they have everything they need for their kitchen, until they step into downtown Roanoke kitchen shop Linens & Ladles. Armed with a gift certificate, here the avid home cook can find all the gadgets and kitchen accessories they didn’t know they needed, like an avocado hugger to save half avocados for tomorrow’s toast or a fungi-shaped mushroom scrubber. Or whimsical tea towels, seasonal spatulas or pan separators in whimsical prints to keep their stacks of sauté pans and skillets scratch-free. And isn’t it time they checked those mini Le Creuset cocottes off their wish list?

If your gift recipient is more about eating than cooking, steer them to the fan-favorite, gourmet dip, cheeseball and soup mixes from Wind & Willow. The Santa Fe cheeseball mix is just the ticket for an easy holiday appetizer, and while the chipotle cheddar dip mix can stand on its own as a dip when paired with crudité and crackers, it can also be used as a seasoning blend to spruce up burgers.

Butchery Class from Yard Bull Meats

Calling all meat lovers! If you’re looking to hone your culinary skills but want to go beyond knife skills and mother sauces, seek out the roster of monthly butchery classes from the newly opened Yard Bull Meats. Animal breakdown workshops focus on a specific topic, such as whole hog breakdown, and includes a one-hour demo, private tour, snacks and a beverage.

Prefer to wrap something up? Pick up a meat lover’s holiday gift bundle, ideal for the grill master in your life. The package was curated by co-owners Tyler Thomas and Elliott Orwick and includes a 22-pound bag of “no-smoke, no-dust” Meat Head Craft Chunk Charcoal, a ThermaPop digital pocket thermometer, Zippo grill lighter, choice of two tins of your favorite Spicewalla spice blends, a high-temp silicone basting brush and a Yard Bull Meats t-shirt. Visit yardbullmeats.com/ybm-store for a full listing of classes and demos and to purchase tickets.

LEAP Farm Share

For the foodie who loves to shop local, the omnivore who never met a vegetable they didn’t like or home cooks seeking cooking inspiration, consider gifting a farm share through LEAP. The local food non-profit offers a main farm share, from May until October, and a winter farm share, from November to January.

Recipients can select a garden share (for 1 to 2 people) or market share (3 to 4 people). A sampling of produce that might be included in the main farm share includes kale, fennel and asparagus in spring; sweet corn, cucumbers and tomatoes in summer; and broccoli, beans and sweet potatoes in fall. Optional add-ons include fruit, like spring strawberries, summer peaches and fall apples; eggs, a dozen extra-large free-range brown eggs; bread, a sliced “family loaf” from Blacksburg Bagels; or pantry, locally made artisanal staples such as pasta sauce, honey, jams or salsa.

The winter share’s mix of seasonal items includes weekly fruits, vegetables, and other products such as meat, cheese, baked goods and preserves, along with select add-ons. To gift a farm share, purchase a gift certificate from the market manager at either of LEAP’s farmers markets or online leapforlocalfood.localfoodmarketplace.com/products.

Custom Indoor Herb Garden from Gatewood Rose Botanical 

Nothing makes a dish sing quite like a flurry of fresh herbs. But growing your own from seed can be intimidating and there’s no telling what kind of quality you’ll get ordering herbs online. Offer your favorite home cook the chance to curate their own selection of herbs based on the dishes they turn to most—no green thumb required. Gatewood Rose Botanical owner Jessica Downs first started offering organic herb plants at West End Wednesdays in late summer, and they’ve quickly become a regular staple in her plant shop’s line-up.

Select from a variety of herbs such as basil, rosemary, parsley, cilantro, sage and chives. Then pick your vessel—either small metal buckets or a forthcoming custom planter designed in collaboration with Modern Mountain Designs. There’s a potting station outside the shop should you wish to transplant herbs to different pots. And Downs sends an email receipt that includes care instructions for each plant, though she assures us that herbs are pretty easy and that they all require similar care.

For extra gift giving inspiration, check out the Makers Market at Gatewood Rose on November 13, where Downs will have herbs and plants for sale alongside vendors selling ceramics, woodworking, pottery, photograph prints and vintage clothing.

Knife Sharpening from Jamison’s Sharpening

Jamison’s Sharpening has been in business since 1988 and have been honing their trade ever since. Although they primarily trade in industrial sharpening for wood-cutting tools, an insider tip revealed that they also offer a knife sharpening service for individuals. Home cooks know what a pleasure it is to chop, slice and dice with sharp knives, and this service makes an unexpected but thoughtful gift for your favorite chef (or maybe yourself).

The Jamison staff employ various sharpening machines with different wheels to de-burr and finish the edge, till your chef’s knife and paring knives are just like new. There’s a one-week turnaround on all items and the cost varies depending on size. To sweeten the deal, offer to drop off and pick up the knives for your recipient. While you’re on site, check out the Jamison’s farm store (located just in front of the sharpening business) and snag an add-on for your giftee, such as fresh produce (apples would be nice for testing out those newly sharpened knives!) or a jar of homemade jam, apple butter or pie filling.

A Meal for Someone in Need at Ursula’s Café

For foodies looking to spread the love this holiday season and beyond, purchase tokens at Ursula’s Café to pass out to those in need. Ami Trowell and her husband, Jordan Fallon, opened the pay-what-you-can café in August 2022 in response to the growing need to address food insecurity and people experiencing homelessness, both problems that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

Trowell and Fallon are both professors, but they met while working in restaurants, so offering tasty, quality food was important to them. Purchase Ursula Bucks, a wooden token that’s good for one free Big U combo meal, which includes a choice of soup, side (organic mixed greens, popcorn or packaged snack, like chips) and a drink (total value is $8, but you can opt to donate more). The soups are mostly vegetarian, crafted with Fallon’s flavorful scratch vegetable stock recipe, and often reflect seasonal surpluses, like corn or squash in summer. The vegan chili, chockful of beans and loaded with nutrients, is another mainstay at the café and in the couple’s own kitchen.

Next, the couple hopes to add roasted vegetables as a side option, and sandwiches, too, like an elevated PB&J or a falafel sandwich. Right now, the pair are limited in what they can make without a hood system and are actively seeking grants to help with the buildout, so making a donation in someone’s name is also a great way to share the food love.

Kitchen Deep Clean from Crisp Cleaning Services

Putting a kitchen deep clean on your wish list might not be the most obvious choice, but it’s one that pays dividends long after. Krista White, founder of Crisp Cleaning Services, has the magic touch that imparts an extra gleam and sparkle to everything she cleans. This season, she’s offering packages for a kitchen deep clean, customized for everyone’s space and needs. The kitchen deep clean can include a detailed oven cleaning, including the interior, stovetop and hood; a refrigerator scrub-down and re-org, including ditching expired condiments and organizing items by product; and sink detailing, including a deep clean of the sink interior, getting rid of hidden gunk around faucet handles and tap; and a deep clean of countertops and floors. White also has a deft touch with organization and can work wonders with pantry or snack cupboard makeovers (she even offers Pinterest-worthy metal wire baskets to corral things like granola bars and bagged snacks). Contact White for a custom quote: 484-860-0034 or crisp.home.cleaning@gmail.com.

Heirloom-Worthy Cookware at The French Farmhouse

The French Farmhouse is a wonderland of beautiful homewares and décor, but we’re particularly smitten by their assortment of kitchen items. On our wish list are the beautiful cast iron skillets from Smithey, a Charleston based company who selected French Farmhouse as one of their select retail outlets. With its elegant design and smooth, polished finish (that’s naturally non-stick once seasoned), it’s the kind of cookware that blends form and function and begs to be left on the stovetop to be admired.

We especially like the skillets, like the 10-inch flat top griddle, ideal for grilled cheese and crepes, or the 8-inch skillet, with curved sides and a long handle, that’s ideal for cooking up sides, small protein portions and the perfect fried egg. Another, more unexpected heirloom-worthy pick is copper salt and pepper grinders. They’re imported from Denmark and handmade in a durable polished, solid copper body with a three-part cast grinder for optimal spice grinding. They’re so elegant, you may want to pick up a set for your own kitchen collection.

The story below is from our November/December 2022 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!