Pressies for foodies

Chickens, cheese, buttery cakes, oysters – Darina Allen tells us what to buy food lovers for Christmas.

Every year I swear I'll never ever again be wrapping and delivering presents on Christmas Eve, yet despite my endless resolutions I somehow end up doing just that the following year.

On one occasion I was so tired I managed to scrape the side of the car on the gate post on my way home, I was so blind with exhaustion.

This year I'm determined to start earlier. I make endless lists, get some inspired ideas but then there are a few special people for whom I can't seem to find something appropriate.

So for this column I'll focus on pressies for foodie friends.

The number of escapees from the city looking for the good life in the country is really gathering momentum. It's now at last becoming hip to grow one's own vegetables, have a few hens and a growing number – wait for it – are even keeping a pig. These are the acolytes of Monty Don, Antony Worrall Thompson, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and James Martin. Virtually every magazine lifestyle supplement and Sunday supplement has evocative photos of new age farmers in green or even spotty wellies and Barbour jackets feeding the pigs or collecting the eggs – I'm all for it. Sting was one of the originals, but more recently Zac and Sheherazade Goldsmith and Roger Saul of Mulberry were the subject of colour spreads.

For these born-again rural dwellers a pair of rare poultry, Ancona, Buff Orpington, Hebden Black, Speckledys, will generate some terrific excitement on Christmas Day – a practical present which will provide a few eggs and maybe a clutch of chickens later in the year.

For the aspiring gardener a little hamper of vegetable seeds – say a few early potatoes, a mixture of lettuces and salad leaves, a packet of carrot seed, a few radishes, some beetroot and my favourite broad beans. You may want to add a beginners guide to vegetable gardening, like a copy of Bob Flowerdew's Organic Bible, or A Greener Life by Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott, to get the whole project kick-started. A selection of little pots of fresh herbs and maybe a window box will also delight a green-fingered cook. You may even want to offer to plant them close to the kitchen door – parsley, thyme, chives, mint, marjoram and tarragon would make a good starter pack.

A cook will always welcome a rosemary bush, plant it for remembrance and remember it will only thrive in the house where the woman wears the pants! The aromatic spears can be plucked in every season to flavour lamb, chicken, pork, roast vegetables and jellies and sorbets. Choose a favourite farmhouse cheese and arrange for one to be sent by mail or courier once every two to three months. Alternatively choose a little hamper of Irish Farmhouse Cheese, or membership of their Cheese Club from Sheridans Cheesemongers in Galway or Dublin, Iago or On the Pig's Back in the English Market in Cork, or Peter Ward from Country Choice in Nenagh.

A gift token for a local farmers market or tempting food and wine shops like Urru in Bandon or The Butlers Pantry in Dublin, or one of the Avoca Shops is bound to be a hit.

Look out for Richard Graham-Leigh's delicious buttery cakes and pastries in Urru in Bandon or at Clonakilty and Fermoy farmers' markets, they are quite simply the best "bought" confectionery you are ever likely to find, or some tempting choices from Gwen's Chocolates in Schull, West Cork.

A side of smoked wild Irish salmon from Ummera, Frank Hederman, Dunn's or Woodcock Smokery will remind your friends of how smoked salmon used to taste. We also love Bill Casey's smoked salmon from Shanagarry. Native Irish oysters are in their prime at present, only in season when there is an R in the month. A couple of dozen oysters packed in a split timber box are a really special present for shellfish lovers. Its always good to include an oyster knife in case its been lost or mislaid – it's a nightmare to open oysters without a special knife.

If you want to taste ham like it used to – try Fingal Ferguson's ham from The Gubbeen Smokehouse – might be too late for Christmas but worth seeking out anytime.

A brace of pheasant, well hung with a little pot of bread sauce and some red currant jelly would be a treat, but imagine how gorgeous it would be to receive a really large joint of beef , a wing rib – dry aged and well hung – wrapped in greaseproof and brown paper and tied with butcher's string, instead of a nasty sweaty plastic bag. As an extra treat, why not include some homemade horseradish sauce or some garlic mayo.

An exciting new cookbook is always a bonus for a foodie friend. Georgina Campbell's Ireland – The Guide provides tried-and-tested recommendations of the best places to eat, drink and stay throughout Ireland. John and Sally McKenna's Bridgestone Guides – 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland, 100 Best Places to Stay in Ireland, Bridgestone Dublin Food Guide, Food Lovers Guide to Northern Ireland – are also well worth your time. These guides should be in the glove compartment of every car and they make terrific stocking fillers. These are just a few suggestions to add to the more predictable, but nonetheless welcome plum pud, mince pies and Christmas cake.