Ultimate Food Tech Gift Guide

08 Dec 2016

Searching for the perfect gifts for all the food nerds in your life this holiday season? Have no fear, our 2016 Food Tech Holiday Gift Guide is here. We’ve culled together tons of food gadgets, books, subscription boxes, gift baskets, great organizations to support and more that are sure to satisfy everyone on your list. Got more kick-ass food tech gift ideas? Please let us know in the comments below.

For Kitchen Tech Nerds

Anova Precision Cooker: Anova’s new WI-FI and Bluetooth Precision Cookers make it even easier to cook the perfect meal—whenever and wherever. The sous vide devices connect to your smartphone, allowing you to cook the perfect meal with the touch of a button. They also come with a companion app that provides step-by-step recipe directions from professionals. Available in Bluetooth for $146 and WI-FI for $149 here.

Fagor LUX Multi Cooker

Fagor LUX Multi Cooker: The Fagor LUX Multi-Cooker is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker and yogurt maker all-in-one. It also offers a variety of beneficial functions,such as brown, saute, simmer, steam and keep warm. Available here for $100-160.

Drop Wi-Fi Enabled Kitchen Scale: Drop is a Bluetooth-enabled kitchen scale that intuitively guides you step-by-step through finding, making and sharing delicious dishes with the help of a connected iPad app. With Drop, users can scale ingredients by weight or servings, replace missing ingredients with alternatives, measure their progress against helpful photo and video tips and share photos of their masterpiece when it’s done. Available here for $79.

KitchenAid Electric Stand Mixer: This is one of the ultimate cooking devices, sure to make anyone smile from ear to ear. Complete with whisk, paddle, and hook attachments, the mixer is great for anything from whipping up delicate creams to kneading bread. You can also buy a ton of attachments that allow you to turn the stand into anything from a pasta maker to a meat grinder. Available as 6-QT. Professional Series for $440 and in 5-QT. Artisan Stand Mixer for $250.

What Betzoid Reveals About Football Betting Prediction Methods

Football betting has evolved dramatically over the past two decades, transforming from a casual pastime into a data-driven discipline that attracts millions of participants worldwide. The rise of analytical platforms and prediction tools has fundamentally changed how bettors approach the game, shifting the focus from gut instinct to statistical modeling and algorithmic forecasting. Understanding how modern prediction methods work — and what they actually reveal about the underlying complexity of football outcomes — is essential for anyone seeking to develop a more informed perspective on sports wagering. Platforms that aggregate and analyze these methodologies offer a revealing window into both the strengths and limitations of contemporary football prediction science.

The Evolution of Football Prediction Methodology

The history of football prediction is closely tied to the broader development of sports analytics. In the early days of organized football betting, predictions were largely informal — based on team reputation, recent form, and the subjective opinions of tipsters with varying degrees of expertise. The introduction of computerized databases in the 1980s and 1990s began to change this landscape, allowing analysts to systematically track performance metrics across entire seasons and competitions.

By the early 2000s, the Poisson distribution model had become one of the most widely referenced mathematical frameworks for predicting football match outcomes. This statistical approach, originally developed for modeling random events over time, was adapted to estimate the probability of a team scoring a specific number of goals based on historical attacking and defensive performance data. While the Poisson model provided a more rigorous foundation than intuition alone, it carried inherent limitations — most notably its assumption that goals are independent events, which does not account for the psychological and tactical shifts that occur within a live match.

The next major evolution came with the development of Expected Goals (xG) metrics in the 2010s. Pioneered by analysts within professional football clubs and later adopted by broadcasters and betting platforms, xG quantifies the quality of scoring opportunities rather than simply counting goals. By assigning probability values to each shot based on factors such as distance, angle, and assist type, xG provides a more nuanced picture of a team’s true attacking and defensive capabilities. This metric has since become a cornerstone of modern football prediction, though debates about its predictive reliability over small sample sizes continue among statisticians and analysts.

Machine learning algorithms have further expanded the toolkit available to prediction platforms. Techniques such as gradient boosting, neural networks, and ensemble methods allow systems to process vast quantities of historical data and identify patterns that traditional statistical models might miss. These approaches can incorporate dozens of variables simultaneously — including player availability, travel schedules, weather conditions, and even referee tendencies — producing probability estimates that reflect a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing match outcomes.

What Betzoid’s Analytical Framework Reveals

Betzoid operates as a comprehensive resource for football betting analysis, and examining its approach reveals several important truths about the current state of prediction methodology. The platform aggregates data from multiple sources, presenting users with comparative odds, statistical breakdowns, and predictive insights that reflect the diversity of analytical approaches currently in use across the industry.

One of the most instructive aspects of studying platforms like Betzoid is the transparency they bring to the prediction process. Rather than presenting a single authoritative forecast, analytical platforms typically display a range of probability estimates derived from different models, allowing users to observe the degree of consensus or disagreement among forecasting systems. When multiple independent models converge on a similar probability for a given outcome, this convergence carries meaningful informational weight. When models diverge significantly, it signals genuine uncertainty that should inform how a bettor interprets any prediction.

Betzoid’s coverage of European and international football competitions also highlights the importance of data depth in prediction accuracy. Top-tier leagues such as the English Premier League, La Liga, and the Bundesliga benefit from extensive historical datasets, detailed player tracking information, and high media scrutiny that produces reliable injury and team news. Predictions for these competitions tend to be more statistically grounded than those for lower-division or less-documented leagues, where data scarcity can undermine even sophisticated modeling approaches. Users who engage with resources available at https://betzoid.net/ gain access to structured analysis that helps contextualize these differences, making it easier to understand why prediction confidence levels vary across different competitions and match types.

The platform also reflects an important industry-wide recognition that no prediction system achieves consistent accuracy over the long term without accounting for market efficiency. Bookmaker odds themselves represent a form of collective prediction, incorporating the assessments of professional traders, sharp bettors, and algorithmic systems. When a statistical model’s probability estimate diverges significantly from the implied probability embedded in bookmaker odds, this discrepancy — often called an edge — represents a potential area of analytical interest. However, identifying genuine edges requires distinguishing between model superiority and random variance, a challenge that even the most sophisticated prediction systems struggle to overcome reliably.

The Statistical Limits of Football Prediction

Understanding the ceiling of football prediction accuracy is as important as understanding the methods themselves. Football is characterized by a relatively low-scoring nature compared to other major sports, which means that random variance plays an unusually large role in determining match outcomes. A team that creates significantly better scoring opportunities than its opponent will still lose a meaningful percentage of matches simply due to the probabilistic nature of goal-scoring.

Research published by sports statisticians has consistently shown that even the most sophisticated prediction models struggle to achieve long-run accuracy rates above 55 to 60 percent for match outcome predictions in top European leagues. This figure may seem surprisingly modest given the computational power and data available to modern systems, but it reflects the fundamental unpredictability built into football as a sport. Injuries to key players, tactical adjustments, referee decisions, and the psychological dynamics of individual matches all introduce variance that cannot be fully captured by historical data.

The concept of regression to the mean is particularly relevant here. Teams that outperform their expected metrics over a short period — winning more matches than their xG data would suggest — tend to see their results normalize over a longer sample. Prediction systems that fail to account for this phenomenon risk overestimating the probability of continued strong performance from recently successful teams. Betzoid’s analytical content addresses this challenge by contextualizing current form within longer historical trends, helping users avoid the common cognitive bias of over-weighting recent results.

Another significant limitation involves the treatment of qualitative factors that resist quantification. Team morale, managerial philosophy, dressing room dynamics, and the motivational context of a specific fixture — such as a relegation battle or a rivalry match — all influence outcomes in ways that statistical models can only approximate. Some advanced systems attempt to incorporate sentiment analysis from media coverage or social media data to capture these dimensions, but the reliability of such approaches remains an active area of research rather than an established methodology.

Responsible Engagement With Prediction Tools

The sophistication of modern football prediction tools has created a risk that users may attribute greater certainty to probabilistic forecasts than is warranted. A prediction platform presenting a 70 percent probability for a home win is communicating that the modeled outcome is more likely than not — not that the outcome is guaranteed. Understanding this distinction is fundamental to engaging with prediction data in a meaningful and responsible way.

Betzoid’s approach to presenting analytical information reflects an awareness of this challenge. By displaying probability ranges, confidence indicators, and contextual statistics alongside predictions, the platform encourages a more nuanced interpretation of forecasting data. This educational dimension is particularly valuable for users who are developing their understanding of how prediction systems work and what their outputs actually mean in practical terms.

The broader industry has also moved toward greater transparency about prediction methodology in recent years. Organizations such as the European Gaming and Betting Association have advocated for clearer communication about the probabilistic nature of sports forecasting, while academic researchers have published increasingly accessible work on the statistical foundations of football prediction. This convergence of industry practice and academic rigor represents a positive development for the overall quality of football betting analysis available to the public.

Ultimately, the most valuable function of prediction platforms is not to eliminate uncertainty but to structure it in a way that supports more informed decision-making. By presenting statistical evidence systematically and contextualizing it within appropriate historical frameworks, these tools contribute to a more analytically literate betting culture — one that recognizes both the genuine insights that data science can provide and the irreducible complexity of football as a competitive sport.

Conclusion

Football betting prediction has undergone a remarkable transformation, driven by advances in statistical modeling, machine learning, and data infrastructure. Platforms like Betzoid illuminate both the impressive capabilities and the honest limitations of contemporary forecasting methods, offering users a more grounded understanding of what prediction tools can and cannot reliably deliver. The most important insight this analysis reveals is that probability, not certainty, is the language of football prediction — and developing fluency in that language is the foundation of any genuinely informed engagement with football betting analysis.

Oliso PRO Smart Vacuum Sealer: No sous vide gift is complete without a vacuum sealer. Recommended by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, the Oliso PRO SmartSealer offers professional level sealing thats compact enough to easily fit in a drawer, making it perfect for your city dwellers. The vacuum sealer makes it easy to seal dry foods, liquids and marinades. It comes with a 12 foot 12V DC power adapter for use in vehicles while hunting, fishing, camping, or simply on the go. It also works with accessories for wine storage and canning jars. Available here for $150. Looking for a less pricey option? Check out the FoodSaver V2244 Vacuum Sealing System for $80.

Emeril Lagasse Slip Resistant Sneakers for Men and Women: Discover the work and safety shoes you need in the Emeril Lagasse’s new line of chef shoes. These sneakers will keep you comfortable all day with a molded memory foam comfort insole, slip-resistant rubber outsole for superior traction on wet and greasy surfaces, and NeverWet® water and stain resistant system to repel liquid and food. Available here for $60.

Searzall Torch Attachment: The Searzall is perfect for your favorite food nerd. The attachment turns a blowtorch into a hand-held broiler that perfectly sears your food without the off-putting aromas that typically result when cooking with blowtorches. It’s great for searing sous-vide meats, pizza, cheese, foie, grilled cheese, s’mores and more. Available for $70 here. You may also want to order the Bernzomatic High Intensity Trigger Start Torch ($40) and Standard Propane Fuel Cylinder ($10) with this.

SodaStream Source Sparkling Water Maker Starter Kit: Your bubble-loving friends will thank you for this one. Powered by a reusable CO2 carbonator, SodaStream allows anyone to create their own sparkling drinks in just seconds. Best of all, you’ll be able to say goodbye to plastic waste. Available for $95 here.

Vitamix: Vitamix is the Cadillac of blenders. Worth every penny, the Professional Series blender allows you to chop, cream, blend, heat, grind, churn and more, with a single machine. You can make everything from a smoothie, to soup to almond milk. The 5300 Series is available here for $415 and the Professional Series for $600 here.

The Field Skillet: The Field Skillet is a new cast iron pan reminiscent of the best vintage American skillets—but with a modern twist. It’s lighter than a 13’ MacBook Pro and is made in the USA. Made from 75-90% recycled iron, The Field Skillet is a sustainable choice. All scrap iron they create is remelted for future pours and all sand from the castings is continuously cycled back into production with zero waste. The Skillet will go on sale any day now here. Learn more here.

Spinzall, The Culinary Centrifuge: Restaurants and bars use expensive ($8k+) laboratory centrifuges to meld fruits with spirits, make flavored oils, clarify juices, separate fats and perform other culinary feats. Now Dave Arnold’s Booker and Dax Equipment Company has launched Spinzall, the first centrifuge designed for smaller formats and home use. The Spinzall is available here for $699.

HAPIfork Bluetooth-Enabled Smart Fork: The smart fork coaches you into healthier eating habits. The It’s an electronic fork that lights up and vibrates when you are eating too fast. As it takes 15-20 minutes to feel satisfied, by simply slowing down your pace while eating, you will consume fewer calories. Pair with your smartphone or tablet over Bluetooth to see your eating stats in real time. Available here for $64.

For Coffee Nerds

Counter Culture Coffee: A Counter Culture subscription is a great gift for your favorite socially and environmentally conscious coffee drinker. The company sources handmade coffees from farmers and cooperatives, which it roasts to order and ships the same day to maximize flavor and freshness. The company is also committed to food security and environmental sustainability in the communities where the beans are grown. It pays farmers above market price for their beans, conducts environmental impact studies and support local projects that improve the environment and promote education through its Seeds program. In November and December, a nickel from each bag of coffee sold goes to Seeds’ climate change adaptation program. Single bags start at $15 and subscriptions at $33.50/month here.

Craft Coffee: This coffee subscription box is the perfect is the perfect gift for your favorite coffee and data nerd. Craft Coffee has spent years evaluating and tracking customer ratings for thousands of coffees from around the world. They know every coffee lover wants something different in their cup, so they use technology to match people with exceptional, fresh-roasted coffee based on their taste preferences. Gift subscriptions start at $30 per month here.

Chemex Classic Wood Collar Coffee Maker with 100 Count Bonded Circle Coffee Filters: The borosilicate glass coffee maker has a polished wood collar with a leather tie and allows you to make coffee as strong as you like without bitterness. Made from durable paper, Chemex filters are 20-30% heavier than competitive brands and permits the proper infusion time by regulating the filtration rate to allow for uniform extraction since the water filters through all the grounds on its way to the apex of the cone. The 6-cup Chemex is available here for $63 and the 8-cup here for $61.

Bonavita Electric Kettle: The Bonavita Variable Temperature Electric Kettle is a 1.0 liter capacity stainless steel kettle with many unique features.The 1000 watt heater boils water quickly and will hold the set temperature for up to one hour. The kettle has a unique spout that allows for a very controlled water pour that is needed for manual brewing of coffee and great for tea steeping as well. Available here for $81.

Baratza Virtuoso – Conical Burr Coffee Grinder: Uniformly ground coffee is the key to making great coffee. The Baratza Virtuoso does just that, which is why its a coffee nerd favorite. The Virtuoso’s 40 mm conical burrs grind coffee at 1.5 to 2.4 g/sec, resulting in a uniform grind, with a distinct lack of fines across its grinding range, making it great for espresso, drip, manual brewing methods and Press Pot. The Virtuoso is available here for $229. For a lower-priced,intro option, check out the Encore Model here for $129.

Blue Bottle Durable Basic Travel Kit: Blue Bottle has put together a great coffee travel bundle. A space-age contraption with gravity-defying aspirations, the AeroPress was invented by Aerobie just 38 miles from our Oakland roastery. Aerobie is responsible for creating the long-flying “superdisc” that broke Guiness World Records when it flew 1,333 feet. (Take that, frisbee!) The same mastery of aerodynamics comes into play here, with this peculiar a device for brewing coffee. Eminently portable, AeroPress delivers a cup of coffee that soars with focus and depth. With the Porlex Mini-Grinder as AeroPress’s level-headed and utilitarian counterpart, nothing can stop you on your way to expert brewing on the fly. Available here for $89.

For DIYers

Mama O’s Premium Homemade Kimchi Kit: This is the most complete and easy-to-use homemade kimchi kit you can buy. Using this kit, you’ll be able to make perfect kimchi again and again. Try all three varieties: Original, Super Spicy, and Vegan. Makes a great gift! The half-gallon size is perfect for small spaces also. Detailed, easy-to-follow instructions are included with each kit. Available here for $45.

Seedsheet: Seedsheet makes it easy to grow your own vegetables. Each biodegradable Seedsheet features a weed-blocking fabric embedded with dissolvable pouches that contain non-GMO seeds and a buffer of soil. Simply place the sheet on top of soil, add water and feast on your veggies. You can purchase remade sheets or custom design your own. The sheets come in a variety of sizes and run from $15 – $250 here.

brooklyn-brew-shop-beer-making-kit Brooklyn Brew Shop Beer Making Kit, Everyday IPA: If you can make oatmeal, you can make beer. Brooklyn Brew Shop’s apartment friendly Beer Making Kits make it easy to bring brewing out of the garage and into the kitchen using only fresh, whole ingredients and traditional methods used in homes and breweries for centuries. By brewing with the same ingredients (cracked barley, hops, spices, and yeast) that the best craft breweries in the world use, making high quality and complex beers becomes possible on the stovetop in your very own kitchen, big or small. Available here for $47.

Back to the Roots AquaFarm: Great for the DIY, sustainable food folks in your life. This apartment friendly, self-cleaning fish tank grows herbs and leafy greens. All you have to do is fill with water, add the fish and plant the seeds, and viola, you’ve got your own mini aquaponic farm going on. Available for $89.99 here.

Food52:Food52’s home and kitchen e-commerce site is a goldmine of one-of-a-kind kitchen finds and impossibly beautiful artisan kits, tools and products. From copper platters and porchetta salt to make your own bitters and DIY goat cheese kits, you can find something special for the cook, designer or beautiful-trinkets lover in your life here.

For Bibliophiles

Devoured: From Chicken Wings to Kale Smoothies–How What We Eat Defines Who We Are: A provocative look at how and what Americans eat and why—a flavorful blend of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Salt Sugar Fat, and Freakonomics that reveals how the way we live shapes the way we eat. Food writer and Culinary Institute of America program director Sophie Egan takes readers on an eye-opening journey through the American food psyche, examining the connections between the values that define our national character—work, freedom, and progress—and our eating habits, the good and the bad. Egan explores why these values make for such an unstable, and often unhealthy, food culture and, paradoxically, why they also make America’s cuisine so great. Available here for $19.

The Rooftop Growing Guide: How to Transform Your Roof into a Vegetable Garden or Farm: In this accessible guide, author Annie Novak’s passion shines as she draws on her experience as a pioneering sky-high farmer to teach best practices for raising vegetables, herbs, flowers, and trees. The book also includes interviews, expert essays, and farm and garden profiles from across the country, so you’ll find advice that works no matter where you live. Featuring the brass tacks on green roofs, container gardening, hydroponics, greenhouse growing, crop planning, pest management, harvesting tips, and more, The Rooftop Growing Guide will have you reimagining the possibilities of your own skyline. Available here for $16.

The Farm on the Roof: What Brooklyn Grange Taught Us About Entrepreneurship, Community, and Growing a Sustainable Business:
In their effort to build the world’s first and largest commercial green rooftop farm, the founders of Brooklyn Grange learned a lot about building and sustaining a business while never losing sight of their mission—to serve their community by providing delicious organic food and changing the way people think about what they eat. But their story is about more than just farming. It serves as an inspirational and instructional guide for anyone looking to start a business that is successful while making a positive impact. Available here for $20.

The Dirt: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Food and Farming: The award-winning Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN) has just released anthology of their work celebrating five years of rigorous independent journalism in the critically underreported areas of food, agriculture and environmental health. With an introduction by FERN’s Editor-in-Chief Samuel Fromartz, a foreword by Michael Pollan and striking full-color photographs and infographics throughout this large format book, The Dirt showcases sixteen stories from FERN’s substantial body of work. Available here for a $100 tax-deductible donation.

Cherry Bombe: This sleek and beautiful bi-annual magazine celebrates everything women and food, including farmers, chefs, makers, stylers, eaters and more. Featuring interviews and stories about icons like Ruth Reichl and Chloe Sevigny, Cherry Bombe is all about nourishment for the mind, eye and stomach. You can gift a 1-year subscription for $40 or a 2-year subscription for $75 here.

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Civil Eats: Civil Eats is the go-to resource for food movement journalism. Its stories dig deep into national food policy issues and profile food heroes from across the country. By supporting Civil Eats, you’ll be aiding it its mission to build more environmentally, economically and socially just communities. Subscribe for $25 here.

Edible Communities: No matter where your food-loving friends live, Edible Magazine subscriptions make for a prize gift. With local publications across the nation, the beautifully designed quarterly magazines tell stories of local farmers, growers, chefs and food artisans. You can give the gift of local food exploration for $24 for a 1-year subscription, $42 for a 2-year and $52 for a 3-year. Check them out here.

Food+Tech Connect: We’re biased, but we think a contribution to Food+Tech Connect is the perfect gift for your favorite food innovators. Your support will ensure your loved one is able to stay on top of the latest business, tech and investment trends in food. You can also feel really awesome about keeping Food+Tech Connect free for all. Learn more here.

Lucky Peach: Luck Peach, the irreverent food magazine from David Chang and the Momofuku team, offers the perfect gift for artists and foodies alike. Each issue focuses on a single food theme, and explores it through writing, art, photography and recipes. You can gift a 4 issue subscription for $28 or an 8 issue subscription for $50. Learn more here.

For Cookbook Lovers

Ingredient: Unveiling the Essential Elements of Food: Ali Bouzari is one of the leading experts in culinary science—a chef, consultant, and scientist who has worked with culinary icon like Thomas Keller and Daniel Humm. With ingredients, Bouzari paints a portrait of each of the fundamental building blocks of food, giving all cooks a way to visualize and respond to what’s really happening in the pan. Focusing on Water, Sugars, Carbs, Lipids, Proteins, Minerals, Gases, and Heat the book teaches you the personalities of Ingredients, where to find them, and how to put them to work. Available here for $19.

wild-fermentation-the-flavor-nutrition-and-craft-of-live-culture-foods Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, 2nd Edition: Sandor Ellix Katz, James Beard Award winner and New York Times bestselling author, returns to the iconic book that started it all, but with a fresh perspective, renewed enthusiasm, and expanded wisdom from his travels around the world. This self-described fermentation revivalist is perhaps best known simply as Sandorkraut, which describes his joyful and demystifying approach to making and eating fermented foods, the health benefits of which have helped launch a nutrition-based food revolution. Available here for $18.

modernist-bread Modernist Bread: The Art and Science: Created by the Modernist Cuisine Team, Modernist Bread is the most in-depth look at bread to date, capturing over four years of independent research and collaborations with leading industry professionals. Stunning photography brings the complete story of bread to life across five volumes—uncover its incredible history, loaves from every corner of the world, and the breath-taking beauty of scientific phenomena at work above and below the crust. In addition, you will discover innovative recipes and techniques developed by the Modernist Cuisine team that have not been published anywhere else. The five-volume Modernist Bread set is available for pre-order here for $554.

The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisanal Baking from Around the World: Hot Bread Kitchen is a bakery that employs and empowers immigrant women, providing them with the skills to succeed in the culinary industry. The tasty corollary of this social enterprise is a line of authentic breads you won’t find anywhere else. Featured in some of New York City’s best restaurants and carried in dozens of retail outlets across the country, these ethnic gems can now be made at home with The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook. The book is available here for $24.

Food52 A New Way to Dinner: A Playbook of Recipes and Strategies for the Week Ahead: Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, founders of the online kitchen and home destination Food52, shows you how to plan, shop, and cook for dinners (and lunches and desserts) all through the week. The secret? Cooking ahead. Starting with flexible base dishes made on the weekend, Amanda and Merrill mix, match, and riff to create new dinners, lunches, and even desserts throughout the week. Available here for $21.

the-red-rooster-cookbook-the-story-of-food-and-hustle-in-harlem The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem: When the James Beard Award-winning chef Marcus Samuelsson opened Red Rooster on in Harlem, he envisioned more than a restaurant. It would be the heart of his neighborhood and a meet-and-greet for both the downtown and the uptown sets, serving Southern black and cross-cultural food. It would reflect Harlem’s history. Ever since the 1930s, Harlem has been a magnet for more than a million African Americans, a melting pot for Spanish, African, and Caribbean immigrants, and a mecca for artists. In his cookbook, Samuelsson showcases southern comfort food and multicultural recipes, along with lyrical essays that convey the flavor of Harlem. Available here for $23.

Everything I Want to Eat: Sqirl and the New California Cooking: Jessica Koslow and her restaurant, Sqirl, are at the forefront of the California cooking renaissance, which is all about food that surprises us and engages all of our senses—it looks good, tastes vibrant, and feels fortifying yet refreshing. In Everything I Want to Eat, Koslow shares 100 of her favorite recipes for health-conscious but delicious dishes, all of which always use real foods—no fake meat or fake sugar here—that also happen to be suitable for vegetarians, vegans, or whomever you’re sharing your meal with. Available here for $28.

Land of Fish and Rice: Recipes from the Culinary Heart of China: The lower Yangtze region, or Jiangnan, with its modern capital Shanghai, has been known since ancient times as a “land of fish and rice.” For centuries, local cooks have harvested the bounty of its lakes, rivers, fields, and mountains to create a cuisine renowned for its delicacy and beauty. In Land of Fish and Rice, Fuchsia Dunlop draws on years of study and exploration to present the recipes, techniques, and ingredients of the Jiangnan kitchen. You will be inspired to try classic dishes such as Beggar’s Chicken and sumptuous Dongpo Pork, as well as fresh, simple recipes such as Clear-Steamed Sea Bass and Fresh Soybeans with Pickled Greens. Available here for $26.

Sous Vide at Home: The Modern Technique for Perfectly Cooked Meals: Sous vide has been a popular cooking technique in restaurants for years, offering tender and succulent dishes cooked to perfection. Now, from the creator of Nomiku–the first affordable sous vide machine–comes this easy-to-follow cookbook that clearly illustrates how to harness the power of sous vide technology to achieve restaurant-quality dishes in the comfort of your own kitchen. Including over 100 recipes for everything from Halibut Tostadas, Grilled Asparagus with Romesco, and Chicken Tikka Masala, to Dulce de Leche, Hassle-Free Vanilla Ice Cream, and even homemade Coffee-Cardamom Bitters, Sous Vide at Home has you covered for every occasion. Available here for $25.

The Up South Cookbook: Chasing Dixie in a Brooklyn Kitchen: Georgia native Nicole Taylor spent her early twenties trying to distance herself from her southern cooking roots–a move “up” to Brooklyn gave her a fresh appreciation for the bread and biscuits, Classic Fried Chicken, Lemon Coconut Stack Cake, and other flavors of her childhood. The Up South Cookbook is a bridge to the past and a door to the future. The recipes in this deeply personal cookbook offer classic Southern favorites informed and updated by newly-discovered ingredients and different cultures. Available here for $22.

Payard Cookies: Third-generation pastry chef François Payard shares his favorite cookie recipes—the bestsellers at his popular New York City patisseries and cafés, the recipes he learned from his father, and the ones he makes at home. They range from the simplest sablés (butter cookies) to the most picture-perfect macarons, with everything in between: unassuming spice cookies, jam-filled linzers and other sandwiches, elegantly fluted and scalloped cannelés and madeleines, cakelike financiers, and beautifully iced cutout cookies for every holiday. All adapted for home cooks and tested in a home kitchen, these treats are easy to make yet offer a taste of “Paris-meets-Upper East Side” luxury to anyone, anywhere. Available here for $20.

The Food of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island: While certain dishes from Taiwan are immensely popular, like steamed buns and bubble tea, the cuisine still remains relatively unknown in America. In The Food of Taiwan, Taiwanese-American Cathy Erway, the acclaimed blogger and author of The Art of Eating In, gives readers an insider’s look at Taiwanese cooking with almost 100 recipes for both home-style dishes and street food. Recipes range from the familiar, such as Pork Belly Buns, Three Cup Chicken, and Beef Noodle Soup, to the exotic, like the Stuffed Bitter Melon, Oyster Noodle Soup, and Dried Radish Omelet. Tantalizing food photographs intersperse with beautiful shots of Taiwan’s coasts, mountains, and farms and gritty photos of bustling city scenes, making this book just as enticing to flip through as it is to cook from. Available here for $21.

For Sustainable Artisanal Food Lovers

Thrive Market Membership: Thrive Market is a like a Costco for healthy, sustainable food products. This year, give the gift of membership, so your loved one can save 25-50% on their favorite organic and non-GMO products. When you join, you are also sponsoring a free membership for a low-income family. Become a member for $60 here.

Zingerman’s Gift Boxes: Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Zingerman’s is a cult favorite. The speciality grocer also has an exceptional online shop for Zingerman’s food, gifts and more.Featuring everything from kitchen starter kits, fresh breads and handmade cheeses to varietal coffee, estate bottled olive oils and sweet treats, their gift boxes are second to none. Check out Zingerman’s gift boxes, which range from $35-$300, here.

Six Month Hot Bread Kitchen Subscription: What’s better than good bread? Good bread delivered to your door every month from an amazing organization that supports low-income New Yorkers and preserves traditional baking techniques from around the world. With this subscription, receive three of Hot Bread Kitchen’s signature breads every month. Subscriptions are available here for $175.

Farm to People: From pasture raised pork pâté to goat milk caramels, Farm to People makes it easy to discover and buy all kinds of products crafted by small-batch, artisanal producers. Buy individual products or select one of its scores of curated gift boxes, like Bringing Home The Bacon and Some Like It Hot, which range from $25 – $150. It also offers monthly tasting boxes which range from $30-$50. Check out Farm to People’s products here.

Mouth has a bevy of tasty treats for craft food lovers. The e-commerce marketplace showcases the best of the best in “indie” foods, from chocolate covered jalapeno corn nuts to organic chamomile bitters, and everything in between. And for the holidays the site is offering special gift packages, like 8 Nights of Hanukkah and Bring Home the Bacon. Prices range from $40 – $125. Dive in here.

For The Meal Kit & Subscription Box Types

Blue Apron delivers pre-measured ingredients and step-by-step recipes to your doorstep. It sources the best local ingredients for unique dishes – like braised Moroccan-style salmon and greens -which allows budding home cooks to spend more time in the kitchen honing their culinary skills. You can gift a 1, 2 or 4 week subscription at $9.99 per person per meal here.

HelloFresh delivers fresh ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes – like caramelized union shepard’s pie- to your doorstep weekly. Its recipe cards come complete with nutrition information and difficulty level rating and take roughly 30 minutes to prepare. Great for those living abroad, too, you can give the gift of one week (three meals for 2-4 people) for $69 – $79 here.

Love With Food: The snack subscription box is an awesome gift for any food explorer on your list. The company offers subscription boxes of unique, emerging natural and organic snacks for as little at $10 a month. And for every box you receive, the company donates a meal to a food bank. Additionally, you can buy or redeem points to get more of your favorite snacks on the site. Grab a gift subscription here.

Plated: Plated delivers weekly changing recipes – like a quinoa, kimchi, and seasonal veggie rice bowl – along with all the fresh ingredients you need to prepare them directly to your door. Give your favorite person the gift of easy to make, extraordinary meals with a Plated gift certificate, which cost between $60 and $360 and can be purchased here.

The Fare Trade: The Fare Trade is the perfect gift for your favorite culinary adventurer. Each month, award-winning chefs assemble a box of their favorite American-made artisan ingredients and signature recipes, which they send to your door step. The boxes come with five ingredients and step-by-step video tutorials. Available for $65 per month here.

The Purple Carrot: The Purple Carrot’s plant-based meal kit subscription is great for anyone who wants or needs more veggies in their life. The company ships pre-measured ingredients and recipes developed by author Mark Bittman right to your door, making it easier than ever to create ultra-fresh, plant-based meals. You can gift one of two packages: A three-night meal plan that serves two people for $68 or a two-night meal plan that serves four people for $74 here.

For Supporters of the Good Food Movement

Change Food: Change Food helps individuals change the way they eat by raising public awareness, educating consumers and motivating behavior change so that all people have access to nutritious, delicious food. With as little as $20, you can help cover the cost of research for its video library and other outreach. Learn more here.

FoodCorps is a nationwide team of AmeriCorps leaders who connect kids to healthy food in school. FoodCorps places these leaders in limited-resource schools for a year of public service where they teach hands-on lessons in growing, cooking and tasting food, collaborate with food service staff to steer students towards the healthiest options in the cafeteria, and work alongside school administrators and teachers to foster a schoolwide culture of health. Support youth food education by donating here.

Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN): FERN is the first and only independent non-profit news organization that produces in-depth journalism on food, agriculture, and environmental health. Donations help FERN continue to produce stories that inform and inspire, and make lasting impact on our food system. You can learn more and donate here.

Food Tank: Food Tank is a food think tank that offers sustainable solutions to the biggest environmental and social challenges facing our food system. Through its website and events, Food Tank facilitates collaboration between players across the entire food food chain. You can donate to its Sustainers Program here to help fund new research on hunger, obesity, food justice and sustainability.

Heritage Radio Network: HRN is a radio station and media company committed to archiving and advancing our food culture and giving a voice to our leading food professionals, farmers, policy experts and tastemakers. By donating to Heritage Radio, you’ll be supporting one of the most progressive voices for food and culture radio in America. Learn more and donate here.

Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD): MOFAD is a non-profit food museum in NYC. MOFAD aims to alter the way people think about food and inspire curiosity about what we eat. Donations will help the team plan launch the museum. The Museum currently has an exhibit focused on flavor. Learn more here.

National Young Farmers Coalition: NYFC supports, mobilizes and engages young farmers and works to ensure their success. It supports independent farms, sustainable farming practices and affordable land for farmers. Benefactors help cultivate the next generation of farmers, and additionally, they receive discounts on stuff like tools, seeds and fertilizers. Learn more here.

NY Sun Works: NYSW builds innovative science labs in urban schools. Its Greenhouse Project Initiative uses hydroponic farming technology to educate students and teachers about the science of sustainability. Its goal is to build 100 greenhouse project labs by 2020. By supporting New York Sun Works, you’ll be helping make that dream a reality. Learn more and donate here.

Real Food Media: Real Food Media aims to grow the movement for sustainable food and farming around the world through short films with big ideas. Its MythBusters series offer tools to counter food industry PR spin, including mythbusting movies, reports and a rapid response network of engaged followers. Its international short films competition, catalyzes creative shorts about food, farming and sustainability. Learn more about Real Food Media here.

Slow Food USA: Slow Food is on a mission to make good, clean and fair food accessible to all. It has 175 local and campus chapters that coordinate local activities, projects and events. By donating to Slow Food, you’ll help support school gardens and family-style community suppers and help strengthen local food culture. Learn more and donate here.

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