Food52 Holiday Swap

A Secret Santa for Food Lovers

I’m a big fan of the website Food52. It is a community of food lovers from all over to share recipes. I was incredibly excited when I received an email about the Food52 2023 Holiday Swap.

Personally, I love belonging to this food community. You can share or find recipes, watch cooking demonstrations, and get help with kitchen and home questions. They also have a shop that sells home goods, crafts, and kitchenware. They even have a collaboration with Nordstrom.

How It Started

According to the Food52 website, the swap began 11 years ago. That is when an F52er Noëlle (aka, enbe) posted on the Hotline and suggested a simple food-centered gift exchange between community members.

This year’s swap is a delicious gift exchange that we help facilitate. You sign up to send a small, food-filled gift to a fellow Food52er, we match you with a community member who agrees to do the same, and then you mail each other a box of goodies. Homemade cookies, preserves, and tasty souvenirs from your travels or the farmers’ market are all fair game—we just ask that your gift be unique and thoughtful (within the $25 range).

What is the Holiday Swap

The holiday swap participants mail a care package to their giftee. It is recommended to include homemade items and holiday surprises. Food52 provides you with information about your giftee. This includes their food likes and their Food52 profile with items from the shop. The cost of participating is a minimum donation of a minimum $10 to Feeding America®.

Because Feeding America® is one of the charities on my list of charities to donate to, I made this my end-of-year donation.

What I Sent To My Giftee

My giftee resides in Oregon. She loves creativity, the arts, wine, or craft lager and is an adventurous eater. She is also a coffee fiend and prefers salt over sweet. Since we were also asked to create a profile, I knew one of the items she wanted was the Five Two Ultimate Apron with Built-In Pot Holders.

I also added in Ina Garten’s Modern Comfort Food cookbook, 12 Days of Coffee Advent Calendar Christmas Gift Set, a 12-bottle collection of hot sauces, and a Rae Dunn Holiday Baking Set. Finally, I provided a recipe for my Potato Kiegel because my homemade item would not withstand shipping.

When my giftee received her package, she posted the kindest thank you on the Food52 IG page.

What I Received From My Food52 Holiday Swap Buddy

I received the most thoughtful package from my Food52 Holiday Swap buddy the second week of December and a personalized note. Like myself, it was her first time participating. Because you do create a profile, mine was filled with breakfast goodies, including three packages of granola, a mini waffle maker and waffle mix, three types of jams, two lemon dish towels (how did she know I love lemons), and recipes for pumpkin bread, zucchini orange bread, and Inn at Machester (VT) granola.

A Food Community Comes Together

That year, they had 1,264 participants worldwide and raised over $25,390 for Feeding America. The New York Times wrote an article on the 2020 food swap.

I genuinely love the idea behind this event and am looking forward to participating in 2023. The deadline to sign up is November 17th, 2023.

You can follow their Holiday Swap on Instagram to see some of the fantastic packages the Food52 community created for their giftees.

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