Top Ten Gifts to Buy Online for the Snobby Cook

No matter what other roles we play outside the kitchen - butcher, baker, even candlestick maker - We are all unrelenting defenders as to what we allow onto the hallowed ground of our kitchens. We pride ourselves on being on top of the cooking game, -reading, prowling, discovering new techniques, hunting down the very finest of ingredients - leaving us exhausted yet ready for more. Does that make us snobs? Perhaps staunch enthusiasts would be a more fitting characterization.

For those who consider cooking as much fun as say, cleaning the bathtub, the strange peculiarity of cooks makes good gift giving difficult at best. Add to that the profusion of ‘must have' gadgets on the market and you may be ready to give up. What's a well intentioned non-cook gift giver to do? Read on to find my top ten gift recommendations for the snobby cook in your life and you'll face your next gift decision with renewed confidence.

1.  Hunt down fresh spices and herbs

Cooks don't need much of an excuse to buy more things their kitchen, but when it comes to buying fresh spices and herbs we are granted permission from the culinary gods to spend without guilt. Despite your grandmother's insistence that her dill, which hasn't seen a pot of soup since faux wood paneled kitchens were in style, is just fine, herbs and spices should be used in a reasonable amount of time. Give them a year, or sometimes mere months, and they will develop off flavors.

Spices are more than mere flavor components - they are smells, color, and sensory catalysts that help give the food we create meaning. But for me, more than any of that, they are just plain fun. With a literal world of spices, there is always more to discover. Treat your cook to their favorite herbs and spices but include unusual flavors well. Why purchase ordinary supermarket cinnamon when you can choose the alluring and pungent cinnamon from Vietnam or the rich and spicy Chinese Tung Hing Cassia cinnamon? Your attention to detail in choosing will not go unnoticed or unappreciated by any cook worth their salt.