13 Unique Gifts for Your Foodie Friends

Dec. 16, 2013 -- intro: With a food craze sweeping the nation, we all have people in our lives who are obsessed with cooking, eating and learning about food. We picked 13 gifts that any food lover will appreciate. They range from having a "Top Chef" cook your dinner to a personal beer-making kit. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting this stuff too.

quicklist:1title: 'Top Chef' mealtext: This is the perfect gift for the Top Chef-obsessed. Kitchit, a private dining website, connects you with former "Top Chef" contestants, who are offering menus, such as a New Orleans-themed or "Ultimate Challenge" meal, inspired by the hit reality-TV show. Pick one and your next dinner party will be epic.

Available at Kitchit starting at $45 per person. media: 21215355

quicklist:2title: The Chelsea Market Cookbooktext: Why make gifts of recipes from just one chef when you can pick a book that showcases the food of several? Chelsea Market in New York City is a foodie heaven, with dozens of vendors offering handmade pasta, high-end butchered meat, whole lobster dinners, freshly fried mini doughnuts and more. Get in on the action with the market's cookbook, which includes more than 100 recipes, such as hoisin-glazed pork belly, velvety cream of tomato soup and rugelach.

Available at Amazon for $21.43.media: 21214358

quicklist:3title: Pluck Egg Separatortext: Let's be honest -- separating eggs can be a pain-in-the-butt. Not so with this new egg separator from Quirky, which with the squeeze of a bottle, sucks up the yolk of a raw egg and deposits it into a separate dish. This one's a no-brainer for the bakers you know.

Available at Quirky for $10.39.media: 21214824

quicklist:4title: King Cube Ice Traytext: Right, no one needs large ice cubes in a drink. But they make the drink look so pretty and fancy. This slow-melting, large ice tray from Tovolo is a great stocking stuffer for the serious drinker.

Available at Amazon for $8.50.media: 21214875

quicklist:5title: Bread-Making Kittext: Bread baking can be intimidating for even the most advanced cook. Solve that dilemma with Average Joe's bread-making kit, which includes enough ingredients for three loaves, a cookbook, a cheat sheet and baker's tools that most people don't have. We recommend this gift for someone who lives in your house -- that way you can reap the benefits, we mean, make sure it works.

Available at Average Joe Artisan Bread Kit for $39.media: 21215407

quicklist:6title: Perfect Drink Bartending Apptext: This gizmo from Brookstone connects to an iPad to help you create the perfect drink (hence the item's name). Together with an app, the device uses weight and graphics to help you pour exact measurements for hundreds of drinks.

Available at Brookstone for $59.99.media: 21215763

quicklist:7title: A Year of Handwritten Chef Recipestext: This is the gift that keeps on giving. For one year, your giftee will receive twice-monthly handwritten letters and recipes in the mail from restaurants and chefs across the country.

Available at Food 52 for $60.media: 21214519

quicklist:8title: A Private Cheftext: Who wouldn't like a private chef? Give the gift of fabulous food from Kitchensurfing, a site that connects chefs and the hungry, to someone you really, really love, and you might just get included in the meal.

Available at Kitchensurfing.media: 21215306

quicklist:9title: Mason Jar Travel Lidtext: Drinking from a mason jar is just so pleasurable, and now you never have to give it up with these travel lids and ...

Available at Mason Jars starting at $7.media: 21214975

quicklist:10title: Mason Jar Cocktail Shakertext: ... this cocktail shaker. Drinks definitely get hipster flair when shaken in a mason jar.

Available at The Mason Shaker for $29.media: 21215656

quicklist:11title: Pok Pok Cookbook + Ingredient Bundletext: Andy Ricker's food exploded on the New York City dining scene this year with the opening of his Thai restaurant, Pok Pok. Now, your Asian-food loving friend can get in on the action anywhere in the country with the release of his new cookbook. Plus, because the ingredients can be difficult to find, the chef has paired up with Temple of Thai to create recipe ingredient bundles, so your giftee can get started right away to make a delicious papaya salad or sweet pork with coconut rice.

Cookbook available at Amazon for $22.14.Ingredient bundles available at Temple of Thai starting at $13.69.media: 21214584

quicklist:12title: Beer-Making Kittext: The next step for serious beer lovers is to make their own. Brooklyn Brew Shop makes it easy to get started with its Everyday IPA Beer Making Kit, or you can choose from plenty of other flavors, such as oatmeal stout or grapefruit honey ale.

Available at Brooklyn Brew Shop for $40.media: 21215454

quicklist:13title: iPad Sleeve Protectors + Kitchen Standtext: An iPad is the kitchen's ultimate friend, except the kitchen doesn't often return the kindness. Protect your best sous chef with food-proof plastic sleeves and a stand that keeps the device upright and ready to assist.

Available at Food52 for $20-55.media: 21214470