How to Plan a Birthday for a Foodie
Planning a birthday for someone else is an intensely nerve-wracking thing at the best of times. You like to think you know someone, until you’re agonising over what exactly they’d like to do on their special day. This can be even harder for the ‘foodie’ in your life, particularly if you’re not the pickiest of eaters. How could you plan the perfect birthday for a self-avowed food lover?
B-Y-O-Charcuterie
There is little more irresistible to any self-confessed foodie than the prospect of artisanal deli meats. Charcuterie boards have retained their magic for years, as the ultimate sharing opportunity for friends and family alike. The sheer variety of meats and cheeses, coupled with some carefully-selected sides and palette cleansers, makes for enjoyable grazing all-round.
The charcuterie board is also the perfect opportunity to lean into variety, in the form of a pot-luck style birthday event. Have all of your friends bring their own items to the party, whether rare cheeses, delectable deli slices or home-made cornichons. A delight for the senses!
Cooking Classes
Foodies traditionally enjoy the eating part of any culinary experience, but what if you flipped the script? A joint cooking class is a fun and utterly unique way to celebrate your food-lover friend’s birthday, combining the fun of a red-letter activity with the joy of trying some new and delicious food – food that will taste all the better for having been cooked by you! You could arrange for a chef to come to your house and teach you all a delicious bespoke main, or you could spend the day in a professional kitchen picking up some tips as a group.
A Meal to Remember
The quintessential celebration idea for the birthday foodie in your life is, naturally, to take them for a meal. Going out for dinner can mean so many things, depending on your destination and your intentions for the evening. If your friend has never been for a ‘cheeky Nandos’, for example, you could indulge them in a post-ironic trip to the chain restaurant of legend. All the better if a member of your group is a healthcare worker, giving you that sweet Nandos NHS discount for an iconic dinner on a budget.
Of course, you might have loftier aspirations for your friend’s birthday dinner. There is an extremely vibrant seam of independent culinary invention across the UK, from Michelin-starred pubs to unassuming family-run joints with a handful of tables. Choose somewhere with private dining options for large groups, and choose something adventurous!
Food Crawl!
A high-quality meal can be hard to top. But what if you had several? Much in the same vein as a pub crawl, you could plan out a ‘food crawl’ of a city or region. You, your foodie friend and some other close pals could travel to a different city and spend the day trying the best food it has to offer. Small plates would very much be the order of the day, but you would all get to try the greatest variety of amazing meals while discovering somewhere altogether new. Become the culinary explorers you deserve to be, and truly treat your foodie friend in the process!
