The Food Section

Destination Japan

Silicone chopstick rests by Shukoh Hayashi are twisted to form the shape of a helix. $30 for five.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has created Destination: Japan, a collection of more than 100 products (exclusive to the MoMA Store) created by established and emerging Japanese designers. We've sifted through them to find culinary-oriented products, from cooking gadgets to barware and tableware. Below are highlights of some of the more stylish, useful, intriguing, and amusing designs.

This earthenware apple-shaped jar has a wooden serving spoon at its core. $55.

Vegetables and fruits are rendered as cartoonish monsters and embroidered on a cotton T-shirt. $45.

This PVC "Patisserie Ring" (also available in blackberry and ice cream) is made of PVC embedded with Swarovski crystals. $45 to $65.

This ceramic grater's base is made of non-slip silicone so it won't budge as you grate away, even with one hand, at the kitchen counter. $28.

The quirky silicone pig cooking lid releases steam through the pig's snout as food cooks below. $18.

A folding bread board folds small for a round loaf or extends to slice a baguette. $75.

The Sushi Bar Card Game is a memory game containing cards with illustrations of fish commonly used for sushi. $29.95.

This bento box contains two germ-resistant silicone rubber containers. An air valve controls the air pressure inside the box to prevent food from sticking to the lid. $20.

Originally created for a Japanese ramen chain, this streamlined spork was designed to eliminate waste created by disposal chopsticks. $12.

The surface of this sake carafe (and cup set) resembles ice. A contour in the side provides a place for your thumb for ease of pouring. $55.

Just Fruit

I raved earlier about Southern Alps Slow Dried Fruits when I spotted them at last year's Fancy Food Show. Unlike other dried fruits, these contain no sugar, sulfites, or other additives and preservatives. The result is visually stunning, not to mention tasty. The mangoes, for example, have a distinctly sour and sweet flavor, and a very chewy, leathery texture (almost like beef jerky) that's nothing like the sugary sweet kind you might find in Chinatown grocery store. Mango, mulberries, pineapple, green apples, figs, and strawberries, among other fruits, are also available in snack size pouches. $4.99 to $7.99 each at iGourmet.com.

Taste of Paris

Hungry for Paris, a new guide to dining in Paris, provides reviews of more than 100 restaurants in the French capitol. Organized by neighborhood, with maps detailing each restaurant's location, the reviews provide deeply personal evocations of favorite eating places (but, if you're in a rush, "In a Word," bite-size reviews follow each entry). The author, Alexander Lobrano, longtime European correspondent for Gourmet magazine, is clearly smitten with the city, but don't think the book is mere boosterism. He writes despairingly that brasseries are on the decline and includes an honest appraisal of why some of the more famous Paris restaurants you've heard about didn't make the cut.

The reviews are bookended with short, useful essays on the basics of French dining, eating alone, seasonal specialties, and learning how to eat the "unspeakable" -- snails, smelly cheeses, frogs' legs and other foods that freak Americans out. "Why fly all the way to Paris to eat chicken breasts or steak?" asks Lobrano. "Push your limits instead. At worst, you'll have a gruesome gastro tale of your own to recount when you get home. More likely, you'll be amazed to discover that you actually like pig's feet, beef muzzle salad vinaigrette, and calf's brains." $10.88 at amazon.com.

Chalkboard Chic

Joerg Gaetjens' Chalkboard Napkin Rings not only spiff up your table setting, they also function as reusable place cards. Write the names of your guests on the napkin rings with a slate pencil and erase with the sponge eraser (both included). While they may be pretty nifty, the price ($65) seems a little steep. After all, you could simply pick up some unfinished rings and chalkboard paint and make your own on the cheap. $65 for a set of four at MoMA.

Face Food

Design site Core 77 points to writer and designer Christopher Salyers' Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes, a collection images of the creative and complex brand of bento boxes known as charaben, where rice, tofu, seaweed, and other foodstuffs are transformed into kids' lunches inspired by anime, television, and movies. In addition to photography, the book includes a bento "how-to" and interviews with charaben enthusiasts. Salyers' writes: "For all of you who have ever eaten or prepared a slap-dash PB&J sandwich, or have been victim of school cafeterias, I offer up these pages as proof that when you show this much dedication to what you or your child eats, the end result will be nothing short of astounding." $10.15 at amazon.com.

Alter Ego

CB2's Beaker Glasses may look just like plastic cups, but they are actually made of handblown lab glass. They are so light and thin that you might even mistake them for their disposable doppelgängers. And, they're even stackable. The glasses come in two sizes: the cooler glass (10.5 oz.) is $3.95 and the juice glass (6.5 oz.) is $1.95 at CB2.

Great Grater

Fans of Microplane, the maker of ultra-sharp and incredibly effective zesters and graters based on woodworking tools, has applied its brilliant design to re-engineer the classic box grater. Like the original, the Microplane Box Grater has four cutting surfaces to zest citrus and slice, shred, or finely grate vegetables, chocolate, or cheese. Just be extra careful of your knuckles the next time you make potato pancakes. $34.95 at Williams-Sonoma.

The Postmodern Martini

The seemingly endless design possibilities of thermal glassware are well-documented on this site, from a novel french press to shape shifting glasses for liqueur, beer, or wine. Here's another stunning example: Alissia Melka Teichroew's Inside Out Martini Glasses, which surround the iconic cocktail vessel with a water glass-shaped exterior. A set of two is $68 at the MoMA Store.

Garden a Go-Go

Los Angeles-based Food Map design has come to the rescue of global thinking folks who harbor big organic gardening ambitions but might be hampered by small local real estate. Its non-toxic movable Food Map Container is partially made from post-industrial recycled materials and is designed to have a minimal overall environmental impact. The planter-on-wheels concept means it can be placed where sunlight is most favorable, or out of the way of your guests at your next cozy summer BBQ. Start your own garden for $245-$255 at Food Map design.

Bottle Art

Laser-etched, hand-inked Lux Apts Milk Bottles, festooned with charming drawings of townhouses, show off the work of designer Julia Rothman. The limited edition ceramic bottles are $65 (in gray or red) at ReForm School. [via Design*Sponge]

Holdable Honey

The Honibe Honey Drop works like a sugar cube for those who'd rather sweeten their tea with honey. John Rowe, creator of the drops, says he was inspired to create a "non-messy" honey after an unfortunate camping trip involving a broken jar of honey, a backpack, and a sticky mess. Because the single-serving drops won't stick like liquid honey, they might be particularly useful for tea drinkers on the go. According to Rowe, unlike other dried honey products on the market, his drops are made of 100% natural honey and contain no binding agents or additives such as sugar or corn syrup. $11.99 for a box of 20 (plain or flavored with lemon) at Honibe.

Press Perfect

We've been intrigued lately by the proliferation of double-walled glassware that not only looks cool, but keeps your beverage cool -- whether you're drinking liqueur, beer, or wine. Bodum, which makes several lines of thermal mugs and glasses, has taken the technique to the next level by reinventing the classic French press coffee pot. Bodum claims that its double-walled Chambord Coffee Maker (34 oz.) will keep just-pressed coffee hot for up to two hours. While this development may be heresy for coffee purists (who would tell you to decant your coffee and get it away from the grounds as soon as possible after steeping), the pot seems like a nifty (if pricey) innovation for lazy, slow-sipping French pressers everywhere. $89.95 at Bodum.

Bread and Beyond

I've just gotten my hands on Beyond the Bread Basket, the new cookbook by master baker Eric Kayser. It contains more than 60 recipes for dishes that use bread as a "plate" (haute bread bowls), ingredient (stuffed baguettes and mille-feuille sandwiches), and as a seasoning (croutons and breadrumbs). There's even a recipe for a "toast tapenade" of ground bread and nuts (for eating with cheese or fruit). Recipes for sandwiches and desserts fill out the rest of the book.

Kayser is a man who takes bread extremely seriously. After all, there's even a section on food and wine pairings for various types of bread (e.g., choose champagne and chocolate to pair with brioche). Luckily, for those intimidated by baking, nearly all of the recipes require bread that has already been baked (phew!). The only downside is that they invariably call for breads from Kayser's bakeries. While he suggests substitutions you might find locally, residents of Los Angeles, home to Kayser's BREADBAR, will certainly have a leg up. $23.07 at amazon.com.

Hold the Tahini

The pitapocket reinvents the traditional flatbread as a small cloth wallet (5.5 inches in diameter) for holding anything from spare change to keys to an mp3 player. "Pita bread is our national bread here in Israel," writes Israeli designer Anat Safran, creator of the pouch. "Everybody  eats it and can get even sentimental about it... I wanted to create  a funny 'must have' product related to our Middle Eastern popular culture." $14 each, plus $3 shipping to the U.S. (falafel not included). To purchase, inquire at contact@infobag.co.il.

Espresso Anywhere

The latest from the Department of Culinary Mashups (see also the Rossini Pie Server) is the Handpresso espresso maker, which looks like a bike pump on too much caffeine. For mobile baristas everywhere, the cordless gadget works by inserting an E.S.E. coffee pod, adding hot water, and pumping the device by hand to build enough pressure to pull a shot of espresso. €99 at Handpresso.com.

Truffle Snuffle

Playing around with truffles is an expensive proposition, but how do you properly train children in the the art of hunting down the pricey tubers. HABA's Truffle Snuffle game offers a fun solution. Take turns strapping on the pig snout and race the clock to pick up the matching truffle cards. Before long, your kids will be ready to sniff around Provence like real truffle hogs. $18.99 at Oompa Toys.

Nerd Chic

Wine drinkers with a chemistry fetish no longer need to hunt down laboratory supply catalogues to bring a touch of scientific chic to their wine service now that CB2 has introduced Beaker Glass Decanters that duplicate the design of lab ware. The decanters come in two sizes: 34 oz. ($9.95) and 64 oz. ($14.95). A glass funnel ($2.50), for pouring wine into the flasks, is also available.

Precision Coffee

Perfectionist much? Suck UK's MyCuppa coffee and tea mugs help you mix your favorite brew with milk to precisely match a Pantone-esque color guide printed on the inside -- from "milky" to a super-dark "builder's brew." $25 each at Generate.

Image: Suck UK.

Napkin Notebook

How many big ideas have been scrawled on the back of a napkin? With the Napkin Notebook, a spiral-bound pad stack  of 20 cocktail napkins, you can find inspiration without even stepping foot into a bar or cafe. $6.50 exclusively at MoMA.

Image: MoMA.

2007 Guide to Holiday Gift Guides

Still searching for a gastronomical gift for your food-centric friends and loved ones? The Food Section has scanned the pages of food magazines, newspaper food sections, and food websites to bring you a compendium of holiday gift lists -- the 2007 Food Section Guide to Holiday Gift Guides, a collection of links to recently published articles on food-friendly gifts for the holidays.

Cookbooks and Other Food Reads
»Books for the Food Cognoscenti [Food & Wine]
»Holiday Books: Cooking [New York Times]
»Broaden a Cook’s Culinary Horizons 11 Ways [New York Times]
»Cook's Books [San Francisco Chronicle]
»Best Cookbooks for a Great Season [Los Angeles Times]
»The Best Cookbooks of 2007 [epicurious]
»Top Ten Reads [Saveur]
»Five books to help you become a chef by New Year's! [Salon]
»A list of books for the cooks in your life [Newsday]
»Gift Books for the Cook [Mercury News]
»Best of 2007: Twenty books from 2007 that made the cut [Leite's Culinaria]

Things to Eat and Other Food Stuff
»Gourmet's Online Gift Guide [Gourmet]
»Winter 2007 Gift Guide [CHOW]
»Gift Guide: Restaurants and Bars [Time Out New York]
»Crazy Good Gift Guide [Serious Eats]
»Holiday Shopping [Cravings]
»Holiday Gifts for Collectors [New York Sun]
»Holiday Gift Guide 2007 [Food & Wine]
»Tasteful Giving [New York Times]
»Good Giving [Saveur]
»Holiday Favorites List 2007 [101 Cookbooks]
»2007 Holiday Gift Guide [YumSugar]
»Stuff I love and Stuff I Want: Things for the Kitchen [not martha]
»2007 Holiday Gift Guide for the Bento Fan in Your Life [Just Bento]

See also: The Food Section Holiday Gift Guide

2007 Holiday Gift Guide

Once again, the holidays are upon us, and The Food Section has compiled a guide to gastronomic gift ideas for (almost) everyone on your list, from the neophyte foodie to the highly educated oenophile.

For the conceptual culinarian: Limited edition prints by designer Jamie Wieck: "Danté's Tea Break" (left) charts Danté's descent into hell as seen through tea biscuits; "Decisions, Decisions" (right), is a massive flow chart mapping the myriad choices involved in dining out.

For the avant garde oenophile: Postmodern glassware that upends the traditional: Alissia Melka Teichroew’s Inside Out champagne (left) and liqueur glasses