The Gastro Gays' 12 gifts of Christmas for foodies

Whoever was the lucky recipient in the classic Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas ended up receiving 364 gifts in total from their 'true love'.

While this list doesn’t quite bear that much generosity there are countless gift ideas here, many of which have been the trending or most popular products of 2024, from award-winning condiments to cutting-edge kitchen technology, sublime subscriptions (for the gift that keeps giving) and Irish-made chef’s knives that are a long-term investment in your kitchen arsenal.

12 Hand-Painted Chocolates

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Galway-based Grá Chocolates offers a sensational seasonal box of 12 Irish hand made, hand-painted crescent-shaped chocolates with festive fillings, like Irish cream liquor, a classic gingerbread, a spiced orange gel and cranberry chocolate. Buy: grachocolates.com

11 Cocktails* (and counting…)

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To be honest, there is nothing ‘eleven’ about this inclusion, but Bar 1661 has a number one at the beginning and another one at the end of its name so put them together it makes eleven and that is just about tenuous enough for us to include.

For the cocktail aficionado and appreciator, award-winning Bar 1661 has developed a World first 28-course cocktail tasting experience, led by their highly skilled bartender team. It sold out fast in 2024 but tickets are available for the unique experience in 2025. Buy: shop.bar1661.ie

10 Top Kitchen Appliances

If looking to enliven your kitchen with the latest gadgets and appliances, here are ten new ones to consider:

1. Ninja Double Stack XL Airfryer (€319, Euronics, Currys, Harvey Norman)
2. KitchenAid 4.7L Mixer Design Series (Evergreen + Walnut Bowl) (€999, direct kitchenaid.ie)
3. Ninja Creami (€239, Euronics, Harvey Norman)
4. TCL Rice Cooker (€50.20, Asia Market)
5. Weber Slate Griddle Plate (43cm, €399)
6. Drew & Cole CleverChef Pro 5.7L (£129.99, direct drewandcole.com)
7. Aarke Carbonator 3 (€209.95, Brown Thomas, Arnotts)
8. Thermapen ONE (£78, direct thermapen.co.uk)
9. Russell Hobbs Good to go Multi-Cooker (€99.99, independent electric retailers)
10. Sage ‘The Smoking Gun™️’ (€109.90, direct sageappliances.com/ie)

9 Workshops & Classes

Give the gift of a new skill for 2025 with these nine great classes, workshops, tours and food events!

1. Picado Lily Ramirez-Foran’s hands-on Mexican cookery classes in Dublin city picadomexican.com
2. Sheridan’s Cheese virtual and in-person cheese (and wine) tasting classes sheridanscheesemongers.com
3. Ursa Minor in Ballycastle’s bakery school ursaminor-bakeryschool.com
4. Badger & Dodo's Barista 101 course in Cork badgeranddodo.academy
5. Foodhugs’ fermentation lessons (kraut, kimchi, kombucha and kefir) in Glenageary foodhugs.ie
6. Wicklow Way Wines winery tour and tastings in Newtownmountkennedy wicklowwaywines.ie
7. Lorge Chocolatier, follow Benoit Lorge as you up-skill in chocolate making on a one or two-day course in Kenmare lorge.ie
8. Aniar Boutique Cookery School, six week cookery course or day workshops led by Michelin-starred chef JP McMahon aniarrestaurant.ie
9. GIY Waterford’s Grow HQ is the beacon of growing your own so take one of the sowing and growing classes or a cookery class led by the chefs shop.giy.ie

8 Restaurants (One voucher!)

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Ireland’s Blue Book is more well-known to the masses as an ideal gift idea for those looking to stay in Ireland’s elegant Georgian manors, historic castles and romantic country house hotels, but did you know you can use these vouchers in a number of top restaurants, including Michelin-starred spots like Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen, Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, Glover’s Alley by Andy McFadden (all in Dublin city centre) and Campagne in Kilkenny?

Their vouchers also extend in the likes of Browns Bond Hill in Derry, Paul and Máire Flynn’s celebrated The Tannery in Dungarvan, Dax in Dublin city centre and seafood royalty King Sitric in Howth. For physical Ireland’s Blue Book vouchers order by 17 December to ensure it arrives before Christmas however digital vouchers can be purchased right up to the big day itself! irelands-blue-book.ie

7 Monthly Subscriptions

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What’s better than a gift to open on Christmas morning? A gift that keeps coming for three, six or even 12 months. Subscriptions are not only thoughtful and precise - so ideal for those you find annually hard to buy for - but also a fantastic as a last minute option you can order online in seconds.

Here are eight different ones worth considering:

1. Burren-based roastery Anam offers a 3- or 6-month subscription (€60 - €255) of their single origin beans (both single estate and exclusive micro lots) for both espresso and pourover anamcoffee.ie
2. Bean-to-bar chocolate brand from Wicklow Bean & Goose, run by sisters Natalie and Karen Keane, offer a Tasting Club (€55 - €185) shipping two special bars monthly beanandgoose.ie
3. Dingle Salt, a ‘Saltscription’ (€55) to keep your beautiful black ceramic jar (with cork lid) full year-round dingleseasalt.ie
4. A Substack subscription, sharing the joy of writers you love with others by gifting annual subscriptions. Ciara O’Hartghaile’s Gorse is a great one to start with, recent winner of an Irish Food Writing Award, as is Cúán Greene’s Ómós and The Irish Stew from industry oracles John and Sally McKenna. From as little as €5/month, annual subscriptions also available substack.com
5. Brack Club, Graham Herterich’s monthly mailer (3-6 month subscription, €65 - €125) wings inventively-flavoured, fruit-filled, seasonal tea bracks your way once-monthly thebakerybythecupcakebloke.clickandcollection.com
6. Mike’s Fancy Cheese Co., cheesemaker and cheesemonger Mike Thomson ships monthly boxes from his little Belfast cheese shop around the island, each time with 3-5 cheeses reflecting the best of the moment alongside a condiment/chutney and tasting notes (from €37.95 for monthly subscriptions) mfcheese.com
7. Olly’s Farm offers a bi-monthly subscription service of his award-winning honeys, every two months you will receive two jars of heather honey and two of blossom honey ollysfarm.ie

6 Top Irish Products

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Why not make up your own selection box of top trending Irish food and drink products this year? Here are six to make up the most delicious box or basket to gift to anyone (or yourself, in fact why not order double and gift yourself the lot too?!)

1. Iconic chicken shop Chimac’s trio of sauces and glazes (K-BBQ, Sriracha Caramel and Korean hot Sauce come in a gorgeous gift box chimac.ie
2. Connemara’s cult-like Smoked condiments range from café Builín Blasta (including their emblematic Smoked Onion Mayo and new Spicy Smoked Onion Mayo) builinblasta.com
3. New kid on the block Fat Tomato by chef Anthony O’Toole in Wexford is a wide-ranging seasonal selection of jars of chutnies, jellies, jars, jams, cordials and seeds. The peach gift box and the ‘Grow and Cook’ gift box both look particularly enticing fattomato.ie
4. Ideal for levelling up leftovers but also on any dish, Arán Bakery in Kilkenny’s Magic Sauce is truly what it says on the tin: magic in every spoonful, a kind of hoisin-meets-bulgogi-meets-teriyaki. arankilkenny.ie
5. This year’s Blas na hÉireann supreme champion product, awarded at what is considered the Oscars for Irish food and drink producers, is Tipperary-based condiment crafters Rivesci’s Smoked Chilli Oil. THE condiment you need in your cupboard going into 2025. rivesci.ie
6. Valentia Island Vermouth is been the Irish-made spirit of the moment, a beautiful product and a stunning label with every bottle feeling like the perfect gift. Awarded by both the Irish Food Writer’s Guild in 2024 and scooping Best Artisan at the Blás na hÉireann awards recently –– a V&T, a vermouth and tonic may just be the sip of the festive season too, sláinte! valentiaislandvermouth.ie

5 Chef’s Knives

For the home chef, whether budding novice or self-styled pro, you are only ever as good as your tools and, as they say, a chef’s best tool is clean hands but second best is a proper chef’s knife. Thankfully, Irish knifemakers and bladesmiths are more than having a moment and an investment in one of their hand-crafted pieces is an investment for years, if not decades, down the line.

Makers like Hugo Byrne in Limerick, Lew Griffin in Galway, Erik Gullikson in Kinsale and Sam Dunn (Dunn Bladeworks) in Glengarriff regularly have flash sales via their websites and newsletters, as does Holly Loftus, an Irish knife maker based in London.

1. hugobyrneknives.com
2. dunnbladeworks.com
3. loftusknives.com
4. lewgriffinknives.com
5. gulliksonknives.com

4 Upcoming Cookbooks

Blasta Books are little books with big voices. An award-winning series that has shaken up the Irish food publishing sphere by offering platforms to first-time authors from diverse backgrounds. Across three years so far 12 new A5-sized titles have landed in hands, and any one published so far would be a sublime stocking filler, but 2025 marks the fourth year of the cohesive - yet individual - series and pre-orders are open to order one or all four, the full annual complement, delivered as they publish (quarterly). A great gift idea that keeps giving!

Expect exciting debuts from chef and zero-waste caterer Orla McAndrew (‘Larder’) then a duo of restaurateur couples, Pam Neumann and Facundo Rodolfo of Tango in Killarney who penned ‘Tango’ followed by ‘Jibrin’ by Izz and Eman Alkarajeh - owners of award-winning Palestinian cafe Izz in Cork - and finally food writer, life coach and Sing Along Social supreme Aoife McElwain’s debut ‘Messy’ to round out 2025. blastabooks.com

3 Salt Pigs

What do you get for the home cook who seems to have everything? Every dish requires seasoning and when you need that necessary pinch of flaky sea salt there’s a receptacle for that. A salt pig is a great little countertop addition that allows seamless salt pinches for whatever you’re cooking and three great Irish-made ones include those by ceramicists Natasha Swan (€46.95, natashaswanceramics.com), Rosemarie Durr (€35, rosemariedurr.com) and salt producers Achill Island Sea Salt (€45, achillislandseasalt.ie).

2 Terrific Totes

Tote bags often bring buckets of personality and these pair are no exception, ideal for the foodie in mind: one from Helen James’ Considered collection (Slogan Tote €8, dunnesstores.com) and The Paddy Box’s ‘The Messages’ tote featuring iconic Irish food brands (€12.95, thepaddybox.com)

And a …. Guinness Limited Edition JW Anderson Jumper

Not quite a partridge in a pear tree but definitely the most lavish inclusion in the list, yet feels not only chic but almost patriotic. From Irish designer JW Anderson’s latest collaboration collection with Guinness, this Merino wool, relaxed fit, crewneck sweatshirt with ribbed neck, cuff and hem will set you back a cool €690 but in the wider category of ‘Christmas jumpers’ this has to be the most fashionable imaginable. jwanderson.com

*Always drink responsibly