The Any Occasion Add to Cart Gift Guide

Our Place, the brand behind the Instagrammable Always Pan, has a newly launched cutting board and knife set. The knife trio comes with a paring knife, a chef’s knife, and a serrated knife for slicing; the walnut cutting board is sold separately. 

Maker of reliable kitchen tools Oxo is getting into camping gear with a new line of products in collaboration with REI. The Oxo Outdoor collection includes the necessary accessories for cooking outside, including this grill turner and tongs set.

It can be hard to snag the coveted mugs from most of the ceramicists mentioned in this New York Times article on the increasing popularity of ceramics collection releases, but Helen Levi makes them to order with a few weeks lead time.

This combination mini folding table and carrier from Food52 is a great gift for the person who goes all-in on picnic season. If that person is you and $180 feels steep, my colleague Hillary Dixler Canavan pointed out that a breakfast-in-bed tray, like the one she wrote about here, might get half the job done. 

This month, Food52 bought housewares brand Dansk with plans to relaunch the line. The relaunch won’t happen until early next year, but you can follow along as branding strategist Christine Muhlke digs into those archives on Instagram. And in the meantime, you can shop Dansk at Food52, including the classic Kobenstyle casserole dish and saucepan.

Ottolenghi, the London restaurant brand and person behind cookbooks Jerusalem, Plenty, and others, has launched a new tableware collection. The dishes were designed in collaboration with Belgian label Serax and artist Ivo Bisignano. These are statement dishes — cups, bowls, and plates come in colors like teal and pink with a range of splashy designs. They’re all available to preorder now, and yes, they ship to the U.S.

There’s a new launch from Japanese tech brand Balmuda, and it doesn’t occupy the same kitchen space as its two previous U.S. launches, the Kettle and the Toaster. However, the Lantern is just as high-end, with three settings and a retail price of $199, and is a very nice addition to outdoor dinner parties.

Nikita Ephanov recently argued for more recognition for the mangal, a grill used across Eurasia that “blends the best parts of a rotisserie spit with traditional charcoal grilling.”

Bread tubes serve no other purpose than to shape bread into frivolous shapes (and throwing around the word “bread tube” is for sure half the fun). Eater Philly editor Dayna Evans found hers at a flea market, but you can buy them on Etsy.

Olive oil brand Brightland expanded its product line with a candle. Digestif, with notes of neroli, vetiver, and black pepper, was made expressly to burn while cooking or after to banish cooking smells.

Kitchen linens may get short shrift in most households (or at least they do in mine), but Jenny Hwa’s Loyale makes linens a priority, with a focus on ethical and sustainable sourcing. The San Francisco-based company recently launched sweet gift sets, perfect for host gifts now that visiting people is soon to be a thing.

Queens-based design shop Lockwood stocks a number of whimsical home goods, including a pizza cutter that looks like a bicycle. The Fixie pizza cutter may not be quite as efficient as a rocking blade for cutting tough pies, but I doubt there’s another pizza cutter out there that looks as fun to use.

Kitchenware company Material launched its first ceramics line in March, in collaboration with Korean ceramics company Soil Baker. The simple, sleek collection includes four pieces (two plates and two bowls) in two colors, “dune” and “grotto.”

Anyday is a cookware line designed for the microwave. It advertises its dishes’ sealed lids, meant to block splatter and keep in moisture, and vents that allow steam to escape, helping ensure food cooks evenly. The frosted borosilicate glass is heat resistant. And the website, with a clean design that calls to mind a few other cookware startups, features recipes for dishes as seemingly complex as mushroom risotto and vegan mapo tofu.

Emma Alpern made the case for the tofu press, a unitasker that’s well worth the cabinet space. Alpern’s press of choice is the Tofu Bud, but there plenty of options out there, all of which will do the job more neatly than the combination of paper towels and makeshift weights.

Glob is a newish brand making cool shopping bags from recycled water bottles, in a range of styles and very fun colors. The Morph Ripstop has convenient side pockets for bottles and enough room for most of the groceries I’d want to carry in one trip. 

Last summer a single photo of Jake Gyllenhaal doing a handstand in a tie-dyed Russ & Daughters tee inspired thousands to buy that shirt. And now, Gyllenhaal has teamed up with the New York City appetizing shop on a black sweatshirt printed with the word “LOX.” Proceeds go to support theater workers via the Actor’s Fund.

Declare your allegiance to a beloved boba shop order with a “Winter Melon Milk Foam” tee from Guavababa. It’s the project of Andrew Liu, who, full disclosure, is married to Eater video producer and avowed fan of winter melon tea with salty foam Pelin Keskin.

Kids can cop a T-shirt featuring their own preferred specialty drink from Mochi Kids, as long as that drink is Yakult. The shirt does come in adult sizes too (the Japanese yogurt drink can be enjoyed by everyone, after all), but those are sold out. 

Spicewalla is selling a grill lover’s bundle that includes tins of piri piri, blackening rub, and jerk seasoning, plus a “Spice Daddy” apron, ostensibly for Father’s Day but good (maybe even better) for non-dads too. 

Hip sausage company Seemore Meats & Veggies has its own limited-edition Katie Kimmel tee. This one reads: “Very Good Sausage.”

This water ice hat from Philly graphic design shop South Fellini — yes, water ice is the proper term — would make a cute addition to a summer wardrobe.

New York-based brand Dauphinette incorporates foods preserved in resin into its designs, including earrings, buttons, and coasters made of peppers, strawberries, and baby tomatoes, among other fruits. Nuts (a gold almond earring!) and popcorn feature, too, and the brand has purses shaped like oven mitts, including one with an okra print, as part of its fall-winter 2021 collection.

Four Loko, the malt beverage company, has two new lines of merch that are actually kind of… good? The Fucci line in particular, with a can pull tab as stand-in for the Gucci logo, is highly wearable.

Hip apron company Tilit has its own exciting collaboration going on now: It’s selling a collection of limited-edition bandanas, each representing a New York City restaurant: Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Tartine, or Lilia. Tilit will donate all proceeds to ROAR NY or Restaurants Care.

These food-themed Karen Mabon silk pajamas scream “spring!”

Eater NY chief critic Ryan Sutton ranked jerky from all over the country. The best jerky in his estimation: vegan jerky in flavors like sriracha, salty black pepper, and sweet onion teriyaki from Austin-based Urban Cowboy.

Salt & Straw has collaborated with publisher Scholastic Inc. on book-inspired ice cream flavors to encourage summer reading. The Rad Readers menu, available in scoop shops and for shipping, features flavors like Goosebumps: Monster Blood Is Back! (a citrus-flavored green base with strawberry bark).

California’s Cowgirl Creamery is making its smallest-production cheese, Inverness, available nationwide. Its Escape to Inverness set includes three of the petite soft cheeses along with pairings of cherry and pistachio crisps, maple curried roasted cashews, and dark chocolate-coated thyme wildflower honeycomb candy. It all ships May 24, just in time for Memorial Day picnic cheese boards. 

For something sweet and special, try the candy crystals from Misaky, where jade tastes like matcha and ametrine is flavored with butterfly pea, lavender, and mango.

Cult favorite fish sauce brand Red Boat has a new Vietnamese braising sauce. Kho sauce is made with Red Boat fish sauce and a blend of black pepper, shallots, and ginger. 

New York City ice cream shop Morgenstern’s ships its ice cream cakes nationwide. Flavors include strawberry vanilla, salted caramel pretzel, cookies and cream, and more.

The spice industry has its fair share of disruptors aiming to change how spices are sourced, but a new brand is looking to change the way we use them once they reach our homes. Occo launched this week with pre-measured spices in recyclable aluminum pods, sold in sets. Some sets contain pods of multiple spices, pre-selected for recipes from chefs like Nina Compton and Mei Lin, while others package up a single spice in pre-measured micro portions, which are also meant to keep spices fresher for longer.

For chile crisp, I’m partial to Fly By Jing. The company’s salsero spoons, a wooden spoon attached to a round stone that sits perfectly atop the jar acting as a lid, are available to preorder, along with a jar of sauce.

Rose Delights collaborates with chefs like Enrique Olvera and Natasha Pickowicz, on CBD edibles in flavors such as poached pear and kiwi and oro blanco grapefruit.

Jaya Saxena wrote about the brewers who are centering queer identity and, essentially, making beer that is inherently gay — brands like Gay Beer, Dyke Beer, and Queer Brewing. Some are only available at the local bars and liquor stores that choose to stock them. But, Gay Beer is recently available to order to 32 states via TapRm

In a similar vein to Gay Beer is Supergay Spirits, the small-batch vodka brand based in upstate New York. A portion of profits from every bottle goes to organizations benefiting LGBTQ+ bar and restaurant workers, not just this month but all year round. ROAR NY, which works with restaurant workers affected by the COVID-19 shutdown, is the brand’s current organization of choice. 

Casamara, one of my favorite grownup nonalcoholic sodas, is now available in beautifully designed cans.

Portland-based Smith Teamaker has a new collection of summery iced tea blends. The loose tea leaves come in resealable pouches and combinations like ginger peach, hibiscus mango, and Pacific lemongrass.

Alcohol-free aperitif brand Ghia has launched a seasonally appropriate spritz. Le Spritz takes the Ghia aperitivo, which is bitter with notes of yuzu and rosemary, adds some sparkle, and puts it all in a can for easy toting to picnics.

Artet, a non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused aperitif, has its own collaboration of note: a limited-edition set of MAMO glasses. The double-sided glasses (one end holds two ounces and the other seven) are now available in the blue and green of Artet’s logo.

The whole flower teas from the Qi, really tisanes of edible roses, chrysanthemums, and lotuses, bloom as they hit water.

Every month, Eater Wine Club ships out boxes of two or four wines, selected by the Eater team’s favorite sommeliers across the country. Eater Wine Club membership also comes with a newsletter and invitations to virtual hangs where that month’s expert will go deeper on the box’s theme. 

Vinotes is a new brand of notebooks designed specifically to record wine tasting notes. There’s perhaps no better way to keep track of your wine club deliveries.

The second cookbook from Canal Cafeteria, a grassroots organization that distributes produce in its New York City community, among other initiatives, is available for pre-order now. It features recipes from local institutions like Zabar’s, Magnolia Bakery, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and more.