Climate Kitchen Vol.23
Special Edition: A Climate-Smart Gift Guide for The Food Lovers in Your Life
Happy Holidays!
While there’s always joy to be found when raising young humans, 2025 has felt particularly heavy for all three of us, as we grapple with a world that feels increasingly unstable from each of our particular corners of the globe.
Still, having this tiny little space on the internet to share our vision for a climate-smart future of kid-friendly food has been a bright spot in our lives, and we are grateful to you for sharing it with us.
For our last edition of the year, we’re coming to you a week early and interrupting our regular programming to share our Climate Kitchen Gift Guide. Unlike last year, when we curated a climate-themed kids gift list, this year we are sharing our favorite climate-smart, family-friendly food gifts. Enjoy!
Wishing you all a peaceful and delicious holiday season ahead, and here’s to a more hopeful 2026.
-Sonalie, Sophie & Nico
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The Climate Kitchen Gift Guide For Food Lovers
Sonalie’s Picks
Sabzi: Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes by Yasmin Khan
I’ve been crushing hard on Pakistani-Iranian British food writer/activist lately, and not just for her excellent food writing and uber-accessible recipes. I loved her interview on Spread The Jelly, and her Substack on the reality of the early days of new motherhood felt like it came from my own head. I LOVE this cookbook and think it’s a fabulous gift for anyone who loves food and wants easy, gorgeous, veg-forward recipes to turn to on a busy weekday.
Nablus Nabali Cold-Pressed Olive Oil: Fruity [Harvest 2025]
I am both an olive oil addict and an olive oil snob. In my kitchen, no other fat will do (sorry, but all that ‘olive oil shouldn’t be used for cooking at high temps’ nonsense does not work with me!) I grew up eating the good stuff every day. My mother used to lug 5L metal canisters back to Hong Kong from Provence every summer. And I secretly believe her youthful look is due to the stuff. While I enjoy good quality cold-pressed young olive varietals from France, Greece, Italy and Spain alike, Palestinian olive oil has become my favorite of late, and I love gifting people a bottle from one of the growers on Olive Odyssey, a platform that sources the best oil harvests from Nablus to Jenin.
The Trio (Turmeric, Cumin & Black Pepper) - Diaspora & Co
I have been following Sana Javeri Kadri’s journey since the early days of Diaspora & Co and watched in amazement as she proved everyone wrong and built the most incredible single-origin spice brand out there, one which involves her knowing all her farmers (mostly in India) and paying them ethically and fairly and giving them a cut of the profits. From her vibrant, on-point branding to her honest founder sharings to a supply chain that should become THE standard for all ingredients, she is goals in terms of building a truly sustainable premium food brand. Not to mention, the spices are ALL that and more. A perfect gift for anyone with taste buds that are even semi-alive. PS: These gorgeous pink and orange pepper shakers make a great stocking stuffer.
Norwegian Baked Knekkebrod Classic Crispbread
I love me a crusty baguette, a good chewy sourdough and a flaky croissant…But I have to admit, my alone-time bread of choice (read: that no one else in my household wants but me) is Nordic crispbread, and Norwegian Baked really delivers on all points, from crunch to nuttiness to ingredient quality. I must have been Scandi in a past life because an open-faced sandwich on dark grain crispbread is my breakfast of choice! Another plus for crispbread? It keeps for ages- great for busy households.
Bimbo Concept Seashell Mealtime Premium Set
I first came across this gorgeous silicon toddler tableware set at a hotel in Hong Kong and have gifted many moms a set since. Available in blue and pink (friendly request to the Bimbo Concept team: a couple more color options would go down a treat!), this is one of the only good-looking and toxin-free kids’ plateware sets I’ve come across. It’s adorable for the kiddos, while still keeping things chic on a grown-up table—LOVE.
MìLà Vegan Soup Dumplings
As their website says, these delicious plant-based soup dumplings (aka xiao long baos) made from patent-pending animal-free gelatin and jackfruit took them a whole two years to perfect. Is there a busy climate-smart parent in your life? Do them a Holiday solid and send her a few bags of these gems to keep in her freezer so she always has a quick-fix dinner at the ready in under 9 minutes—the only thing she needs to do is boil water.
Sophie’s Picks
Grandma Witmer’s Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Mixer
They say it’s the little things in life that make all the difference, and this one is the poster child of my life (at least my kitchen life). I use it constantly. Why is the gadget itself climate-smart? Because it helps you avoid no-stir peanut butters that often use unsustainable palm oil, so you can stick with the best kinds that are at most two ingredients (peanuts, obvi, plus a little salt).
Whipped Honey from Bjӧrn’s Colorado Honey
I’m managing to limit myself to one local rec, and my credit card statement can attest that this is at the top of the list as my go-to gift. The texture of their whipped honeys is what’s won me over, paired with their fun flavors like lemon and cinnamon.
Queen Butter Beans from Bold Bean Co.
Sadly they are only available within the UK, but I include them for any of our lucky readers located there. Hands down the best jarred beans I’ve ever had!
Get it at Bold Bean Co. or UK retailers
Chocolate-ish Bars from Figa Foods
They’re made with cupuaçu, dubbed “chocolate’s Brazilian cousin.” The founder is my friend and colleague, Ariel Altman, and I just think her brand and brand-new products are the coolest.
Tinned Fish from Various Brands
My favorites are oysters from Ekone, mussels from Patagonia Provisions, mackerel from Fishwife, and sardines from Nuri. While Europeans have loved these for centuries, this product category has exploded in the U.S. in recent years for good reason: tin + crackers = easy appetizer; tin + toast = easy lunch; tin + pasta = easy dinner!
Get them at the links above
Stocking Stuffers
From toddlers to tweens, we’ve got non-food stocking stuffer ideas for you, too. Sophie loves these Sussed conversation cards, these mini colored pencils, and this Magnetic Go Fishing travel game, and Sonalie suggests these Crayola Bath Drops, these biodegradable fruit-shaped cellulose sponges, and these silicone squishy stress-relief kitties.
If you are new here, WELCOME. It’s worth checking out our first edition to find out more about why we started this newsletter and who we are, as well as to learn about our food values — “What is climate-smart kid food?”
We are always open to feedback and suggestions on what to cover, what you like, and what you don’t like — tell us everything:
Have a burning question for Climate Kitchen? In our ”Your Questions—Answered!” section, we answer reader queries — send us yours here.