Product Reviews & Information Blog

Please stop giving my favorite gift category a horrible reputation.  Quit sending the boxes filled with processed cheese spreads that are mostly chemicals and the unidentifiable tubes labeled as some sort of sausage.  Quit giving away those fruit baskets that are cushioned with tissue paper in an ugly box that takes up all that space in my recycle bin.  I can find apples and pears that are just as good in my local super market.

Despite my heretical words, above, I love good food gifts.  I enjoy giving them, but I enjoy receiving them even more.  However, when you send me something, please make it the same quality I give those on my gift list.  There is a difference, you know, between true quality and the convenience of buying from one of those ugly mall kiosks.  Food gifts deserve at least as much careful thought as that after-shave you bought your dad year after year in your childhood–oops, not a good example, perhaps.

Instead of that big brand name box of gelatinous cheese spreads from the mall, consider a selection of genuine artisan cheeses from some cheesemaker who actually understands what cheese is and what it can be.  Let’s keep the goats and cows happily employed instead of just putting more chemicals in our food.  I would love even a small gift such as that more than the biggest box of the fake stuff that your mall displays.

A wine gift basket will be a perfect gift for the appropriate recipient.  Just be sure that the person to whom you send it appreciates a good wine.  You see, I haven’t had a drink in years, because I’m an alcoholic.  I prefer not to be tempted, especially during the holidays, but my sister would be an ideal recipient.  She knows how to sip and savor; I remember only how to gulp and refill.

In our mobile society, we all have a beloved relative or a dear friend who has moved to some distant location.  Think about a present of a gift certificate for live lobsters or even lobster dinners.  Indeed, after you read this article, I hope you feel friendly toward me, because that is a gift that I would enjoy!

I made light of fruit gift baskets a while ago, but, if you take the time, you can find a basket of gourmet fruit–the kinds of fruit that I can’t find in my own back yard.  This is a terrific gift for someone who is a Fitness fanatic or anyone who appreciates the simple beauty that is fruit.

See?  If you give a food gift the thought that it deserves, you can avoid the line at the mall kiosk and save the heavy fruitcakes and fake cheese boxes for other shoppers.  Join me at home some evening, shopping from the Internet.  I share my real cheese with you, but you’ll have to bring the wine for yourself.

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