We all have to eat, but there’s eating and then there’s eating, if you know what I mean. It’s one thing to stir up a can of tomato sauce and boil some pasta, it’s another thing to have a full-on gustatory experience with home grown tomatoes and mushrooms, a slice of artisanal cheese, and some truffle-infused sauce over fancy fusilli.
For the foodie in your life, who might appreciate a good treat but not necessarily go out on a limb to pay for it on their own, here are some out-of-the-box (no pun intended) gift ideas for the holiday season…
Rebel Cheese Club is a woman-owned, vegan, small batch company based in Austin, Texas. With the monthly options of 2 cheese bricks (The Rebel), 4 (The Cheesemonger) or 6 (The Fromagier), Rebel Cheese uses artisanal techniques found in the dairy industry such as culturing, brining, and aging, but uses plant-based ingredients such as tree nuts, nutritional yeast, coconut, cultures and spices.
The Dragonberry Club is an exotic fruit-of-the-month club that delivers four and a half pounds of exotic fruit each month, from dragonfruit to rambutans to Claret grapes to 20th century Japanese pears. The company is based out of Oregon and offers 3, 6, and 12 month options.
If someone you know enjoys having their culinary experience mimic a science experiment, Hernshaw Farms sells micro-green and mushroom grow kits including those for oysters, shiitakes, and lion’s manes. Based in Appalachia West Virginia, the company’s goal is to turn former coal mine land into farm land by using old mushroom blocks to create compost to reinvigorate the soil. Buying a grow kit as a gift also supports an area devastated by the opioid crisis by helping small business create decent jobs. Plus you get some really tasty mushrooms for your sauces and salads, so, win-win.
Pure Chocolate by Jinji is a black-owned chocolatier which has a brick-and-mortar store in Baltimore, Maryland. Their offerings include bean-to-bar chocolate, drinking chocolate, pralines, barks, fudges, truffles and their own version of that famous French brand chocolate-hazelnut spread. All of their chocolate products are both gluten free and dairy free.
Bitchfix offers the ultimate vegan chocolate box as well as Moody Bitch Bars, Bitch Bark, and Boozy Cubes which are chocolate powder-dusted Grand Marnier-infused chocolate cubes for the Baddest Bitch Babe in your life. Also who doesn’t want a gift called a bitch box?
Who wants to have chocolate without champagne? B. Stuyvesant Champagne, one of few black female owned champagne brands, hails from a vineyard that stretches from the Ardre Valley to the Aisle via the Marne Valley in France. (All Champagne, by name, is legally required to hail from the Champagne region of France.) The vineyard is made up of about 70% Pinot Meunier, 20% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay. Here is a way to support black owned business in the most celebratory of ways.
The Salty Heifer is a Brooklyn-based black-owned bakery that sells the most mouth-watering and decadently moist cookies and blondies, bourbon pecan pie, what is that…velvet? cake, brooklyn brookie cookie, cafe con leech brown sugar cookie, and more. Not vegan and not guilt-free, but for the person who likes to indulge their sweet tooth every now and then, The Salty Heifer will definitely quench that thirst.
For the ultimate in luxury gifts, New York City-based Trufflin sells truffles, like real truffles from Italy and France, truffle-infused sauces such as Black Truffle Ranch, Black Truffle Siracha, and Truffle Buffalo, among others and caviar, yes, real caviar. They offer luxurious gift box sets with mixes and matches of all of the above, if price isn’t a consideration.
PopUP CleanUP is a black and female owned event and commercial cleaning company based in Los Angeles. We wish you a Happy Holidays this 2022 season!
