Food is one of the best things that the world has to offer. There are few places where you can combine something enjoyable and something healthy to get the best of both worlds, but the kitchen is definitely one of them. If you haven’t already guessed, we love food a lot at A Scientist In The Kitchen, almost as much as we love talking about it!

One of the hidden advantages that comes with knowing your way around the kitchen is the gift-giving opportunities presented to you. Often, when you find yourself stuck for ideas on what to get as a gift for someone, you end up picking up something generic, boring or just outright unusual. This makes you nervous about giving the gift, and even more nervous if you get the wrong reaction. Ultimately, that nervousness can ruin the whole occasion, which is the opposite of what you want.

On the flip side, everyone loves food. It’s pretty difficult to go wrong with a great food gift, no matter who you end up cooking or baking. To show off just how versatile giving food gifts are, here are three scenarios where you can turn an edible goodie into a gift that really works.

Seeing an Old Friend

Bumping into old friends can be an odd mixture of fun and awkward, depending on your relationship with them of course. However, what can be even more nerve-wracking is attending a dinner party at their home or just meeting up for a coffee. If you haven’t seen someone in a long time, it can make you feel obliged to bring a gift, yet you haven’t been in touch with them much, so you have no idea what gift to bring!

Food is the answer, as always. Whipping up a great cake or dessert is always going to go down well. There are loads of different dinner party dessert options out there, it’s just about finding one that you are happy to make. Plus, even on the off chance that your friend doesn’t enjoy the dessert, they will still appreciate the effort you put in and acknowledge it, which is equally important.

Giving to Charity

Now, it might be the first thing to leap to your mind, but food can make a great charity gift. Food banks, homeless shelters and even international charities can always benefit from foodstuffs to help support their efforts. Even if you can’t bake or cook something for yourself, some organisations allow you to donate towards a food gift directly. For example, there are plenty of Islamic charities that offer specialised charity gifts, ranging from fruit trees to food parcels and farming tools.

Whatever cause you are looking to support, there is a good chance that you can do so through the power of food. Eating well does wonders for your mind and charities recognise this, which is part of why they do their best to not just supply some kind of food to people but ensure that it is of good quality too. If you’re interested, make sure to look into it!

Visiting Your Partner’s Family

Last but far from least, visiting your significant other’s family is always nerve-wracking, whether it’s the first time or the fiftieth. Particularly if you are going to eat or have never been before, you can feel obliged to bring some kind of gift; the question is, what present do you pick? Food. Oh! And also, along with the food, you might want to consider purchasing a greeting card from online sites (such as artz-i.com) to demonstrate the effort you have put forth.

When it comes to food, cooking or baking something always goes down at family meals or occasions and is always appreciated, even if it isn’t a family favourite. Also, you have an insider! Ask your partner what their family likes to eat and then cook some of that. The only thing to keep in mind is to avoid traditional recipes or things that the family eat regularly. You don’t want to accidentally disappoint them with a recipe that differs too much from the family tradition.

There we have it! Hopefully, this quick post will have inspired you to consider food as a viable gift more often. Don’t be afraid to experiment with these things either, just make sure that you have practised the recipe you go for at least once, otherwise you might make a mistake on the final cook.

Anna Jones
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