The best local, experience-driven presents for making delicious memories and culinary magic.
As much as I love giving (and receiving!) edible gifts like top-notch olive oils and spices or a box of specialty cookies or chocolates, lately I’ve been gravitating to presents that open up the possibility for memory making too. These locally sourced, experience-driven gifts offer the chance to break bread together, whether at a favorite restaurant or sourdough workshop, to broaden your culinary horizons at tastings and tours and to create your own kitchen magic, through a cooking demo or pottery workshop.
Make Handmade Pottery at Motel Studios
Celeste Hodges, co-founder of Motel Studios, firmly believes that homemade pottery makes food taste better. At Motel Studios, a creative hub offering pottery, sewing, tie-dye, crochet and painting workshops and classes, you can sit at a pottery wheel and make your own ceramic kitchen- or serve-ware. Pottery workshops are open to all skill levels and each class can be tailored to whatever you’d like to create, such as mugs, bowls, ramekins or even a four-piece dish set, which includes a dinner plate, salad plate, bowl and mug/tumbler. Keep an eye out for multi-part workshops to build, trim and glaze a custom dish set for two or four, including plates, bowls and mugs. Don’t miss their popular drag and pottery nights, where participants get to glaze a pre-made wine glass. Prefer to leave it to the pros? Reach out to the team for custom commissions. For more info, visit motelstudios.art.
Learn to Bake Bread with Sip & Sourdough
If you’ve ever been intimidated to bake sourdough or could use a tune-up tutorial, Olivia Philipps’ beginner-friendly workshops at Sip and Sourdough are just the ticket. The two-hour class includes a sourdough starter, a whisk and spatula and step-by-step demo that covers feeding your starter, mixing, fermentation basics and shaping loaves. Participants also receive a loaf to take home and bake or refrigerate. The small-group classes (around 10 attendees) are held at area breweries and wineries, such as Big Lick Brewing Company, Olde Salem Brewing Co. and Beliveau Farm Winery, but private classes can also be booked. Keep an eye out for collaborations with local business such as Salem’s Hammer and Stain, which included Focaccia and Flames, where attendees made sourdough focaccia and candles. Visit sipandsourdoughrke.com for more information and current offerings.
Savor Iconic Downtown Eats with Tour Roanoke
Courtesy of Tour Roanoke.
A food tour is one of my favorite ways to learn about a city’s culture and history, especially when I travel, but there’s plenty you can glean from taking a tour in your own backyard. With Tour Roanoke’s guided “Historic Downtown Food, History & Cultural” walking tour, attendees visit six downtown Roanoke establishments, and along with sips and dishes at each, you’ll learn more about the people, places and pivotal moments that shaped downtown’s dining landscape and history. The line-up is subject to change, but favorite bites from the tour I attended, led by owner Larry Landolt, included Cheesy Westerns at Texas Tavern, shrimp and grits at Billy’s, She Crab Soup at Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center and milk chocolate-covered potato chips at chocolatepaper. Whether you’re a Roanoke native or a Star City newcomer, you’re bound to discover something delicious or surprising. For more details, visit tourroanoke.com.
Cook with Bold Flavors at G Market
Family-run grocery store G Market is known for its Indian and Asian pantry goods and sought-after prepared foods like samosas and butter chicken, but its also gaining a following for its Desi-inspired cooking demonstrations (Desi is a term used to describe people of Indian or South Asian descent living abroad). Owner Rap Grewal’s demos start with spice blending basics, including how to mix and toast spices to make garam masala. Then he shows participants how to make some of G Market’s most popular dishes, including butter chicken and saag paneer, with a side of knife and prep skills. Classes can be tailored to participants’ preferences, like a vegan class featuring dishes like chana masala, aloo gobi and bhindi masala. Grewal also takes attendees on a guided shopping tour so they can pick up spices like cumin and coriander seeds for making their own spice blends and stock up on staples like rice, lentils and naan. Classes are capped at four people and are typically held on Saturdays from 10–11 a.m.; call or stop by the shop to sign up and visit facebook.com/gmarketgroceries for more information.
Book a Chocolate Tasting at chocolatepaper
Courtesy of chocolatepaper
Expand your palate with a delightful chocolate tasting at beloved downtown confection-gift shop chocolatepaper. Tastings are fully customizable, but with every event, co-owner Melissa Mays aims to show participants how to savor and taste the nuances in flavor, texture and finish of different types of chocolates across a range of cacao percentages and origins. Chocolates are selected from the shop’s incredible line-up, including fan-favorite truffles from local outfit Nancy’s Candy Co. (like Dark Overboard, boasting a dark chocolate shell and ganache filling), gourmet bars and bark from top-notch brands like Vosges, and caramels, clusters and cordials from artisanal makers. If tastings are held during business hours, there’s also an option to add a wine pairing too. Follow chocolatepaper on social media for upcoming ticketed events or visit chocolatepaperroanoke.com to book a private tasting.
Score Brownie Points with a Restaurant Gift Card
You might be thinking that giving a gift card reads as a last-minute present, but when it’s chosen with a particular menu or favorite eatery in mind, it can be incredibly thoughtful. Knowing that I love ice cream, a good friend once gifted me with an envelope filled with gift cards to area scoop shops, and it remains one of my favorite gifts to date. Plus, it’s a good way to support local restaurants and gives the recipient a built-in chance to create memories gathered around the table. A friendly reminder to actually use the gift cards and to tip on the final total rather than the amount shown after the gift card has been applied.
The story above is from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
