GIFT GUIDE: What to buy for a foodie

If you're gift hunting for someone who loves to eat, we're here to help. You're sure to find the perfect present below, whether you're after goodies for upcoming Father's Day, a birthday, or getting prepped for Christmas.

The foodie is supposed to be easy to buy for, and somehow they're the hardest. They own the good olive oil. They have opinions about salt you didn't know were available. Buy them a kitchen gadget and it's either beneath their standards or already in the drawer. Buy them a cookbook and they've cooked from it, twice, with notes.

So don't feed them. Dress them. What a food person actually wants is for their entire personality to be legible from across the room, and a shirt about garlic bread does that better than any gadget. Here are 26 options, from bread worship to a Vegemite jar telling you to stay salty. One of them is socks with donuts on, for when you need a stocking-sized version of the same idea.

Everything is drawn in house or by the independent artists we work with, printed to order in our Sydney studio. Adult unisex sizing, XS to 5XL. Every picture goes straight to the product.

26 gift ideas for the foodie in your life

Garlic Bread Tee "Give me garlic bread or get out of my life." No drawing, no decoration. Some positions don't need illustrating, and this is a reasonable position.	Bread Tee "How good is bread." Handwritten, on a bread-coloured tee. The sourdough friend will receive this as the compliment it is.
Espresso Tee "Espresso, then time to shit." A smiling little cup describing the actual reason half this country drinks coffee. The one mildly rude entry on this page, and it's medically accurate.	Fuck Yeah Toast Tee A slice of toast with the words baked into it, and a bite taken out of the corner that has eaten most of the F. The shirt censors itself the way toast would: by being delicious.
No Goals Tee A sloth lying back in a pink donut like it's an inflatable pool ring. "No goals, donut holes." A complete life philosophy with sprinkles on it.	Brachiosaurus Ramen Tee A brachiosaurus using the long neck for what it was clearly designed for: slurping ramen from a great height, in full Japanese woodblock style. The ramen friend will frame this on their body.
$3.50 Snag Tee "I spent $400 at Bunnings but at least the snag was only $3.50." The complete Australian weekend economy, documented by a rabbit with a sausage in bread.	McSmart Meal Tee "I got stabbed at the McDonald's on George St, but I still go back for the McSmart meal." Sydney people know the exact McDonald's. That's the whole point. Loyalty is loyalty.
Succulent Chinese Meal Tee Democracy manifest. The most quotable arrest in Australian history, honoured on a takeaway box. Get your hand off it, and then get this for whoever still does the voice.	Absence Of Cheese Tee "The absence of cheese has driven me insane." A rat, photographed like a doom metal album cover, saying what every lactose-intolerant friend is thinking.
Fairy Bread Tee A triangle of fairy bread with butterfly wings and a star wand, distributing sprinkles to the deserving. The greatest dish this country has produced from three ingredients, finally deified.	Morning Breakfast Tee A grandma at the stove doing bacon and eggs, drawn like a Japanese picture book, with a little egg character supervising. The most wholesome thing on the page and it's not close.
Stay Salty Tee A very familiar looking jar advising you to stay salty. Works as a breakfast reference and as life advice, which is more than the actual jar has ever offered.	Noodle Maggie Tee A magpie helping itself to a bowl of two-minute noodles. Maggie the magpie, eating Maggi. A double pun with feathers, for the person who has both fed a magpie and eaten noodles over the sink.
Normal Bread Tee A vintage ad for Sullivan's Normal Bread Store. Just bread. No secrets. The more you read it, the more you suspect there are, in fact, secrets. Funniest slow burn on the page.	Eat The Rich Tee A box of chips with a message. Class politics served in the most agreeable format known to humanity. Nobody has ever argued with a box of chips.
Cooking Is My Passion Tee "Cooking is my passion," declared over a microwave containing noodles that are on fire. For the foodie's flatmate, or the foodie who's honest about their weeknights.	DILF Tee D.I.L.F.: Damn, I Love Flat Whites. A little cup running somewhere important. The double take from strangers is included in the price.
Eat Cheese And Sin Tee "Eat cheese and sin," announced by a slightly deranged dog. A motto for the friend who builds the cheese board and guards it. Live by it or get off the board.	Let's Make Some Coffee Tee A moka pot and a steaming cup in a warm woodcut style. For the coffee person who grinds their own and would like everyone to sit down while it brews. The calm one of the coffee trio.
Get This Bread Tee "I alone shall get this bread." Two pigeons, styled like a Japanese metal poster, taking the hustle slogan back to its original meaning: actual bread.	Chippies Tee A love heart built entirely out of hot chips. No caption needed, no argument possible. This is what love looks like and everyone at the beach knows it.
Donut Socks Mint socks, covered in donuts. The not-a-tee on this list, for when the budget says stocking stuffer but the recipient still deserves dessert.	Potato Tee The word POTATO, handwritten, on a potato-coloured shirt. That's the design. The most versatile food ever grown deserves at least this much, and arguably no more.
Curried Egg Sandwich Tee The full recipe, illustrated like a 1960s cookbook: bread, eggs, the tin of curry powder. The most divisive sandwich in the country, worn with pride by the people who know it's the best one.	Eat Your Vegetables Tee "Eat your vegetables," said nicely, with a friendly carrot. The only nutritional advice on this entire page, included for balance and to keep someone's mum happy.

Still stuck? Pick by what they actually eat

Foodie is a broad church. Narrow it to the true faith:

• Bread is the love language: Garlic Bread, Bread, Fuck Yeah Toast, Normal Bread, Get This Bread, Fairy Bread.
• Runs on coffee: Espresso, DILF, Let's Make Some Coffee.
• Patriotic about snacks: Stay Salty, $3.50 Snag, Chippies, Curried Egg Sandwich, Fairy Bread again because fairy bread earns two spots.
• Quotes the classics: Succulent Chinese Meal, McSmart Meal.
• Cheese-based lifestyle: Eat Cheese And Sin, Absence Of Cheese.
• Honest about their cooking: Cooking Is My Passion, Noodle Maggie, Potato, Eat Your Vegetables, Morning Breakfast.
• Dessert people and chaos agents: No Goals, Brachiosaurus Ramen, Eat The Rich, Donut Socks.

The rest of the menu lives in the food collection, with the wider funny t shirts range for jokes beyond the kitchen.

You can also check out our other gift guides for cinephiles, nerds, Aussie millennials, kind people, birdwatchers, tired people, eco warriors, grumpy bastards, and pun lovers.

Why a shirt beats another kitchen gadget

Think about what happens to food gifts. The fancy sauce gets used once and shelved. The gadget joins the avocado slicer in the drawer of shame. The voucher gets spent on groceries. Food gifts are consumed and forgotten, which is a strange fate for a present meant to say something.

A shirt about their food does something no edible gift can: it announces the obsession publicly and permanently. The garlic bread person, wearing the garlic bread shirt, at the dinner party, is a complete ecosystem. You've fed their identity instead of their pantry, and the identity was always the hungrier of the two.

Still torn between the bread shirts? A gift card lets them agonise over the menu themselves, which is honestly their favourite part of any meal.

What you're actually buying

Everything here is designed in house or by the independent artists we work with, then printed to order in our Sydney studio. Printed in Australia, not made in Australia, and we'd rather say that plainly than be vague about it. The blanks are ethically sourced AS Colour, the inks are OEKO-TEX certified, and our printing has been carbon neutral since 2021.

Printing to order means nothing sits in a warehouse waiting to be dumped at the end of a season. Your shirt gets made because you ordered it, a bit like a kitchen that only cooks when the order comes in, which is a comparison the recipient will appreciate. A portion of every sale goes to Australian charity.

Questions people ask before buying this stuff

What do you buy a foodie who has everything?

They have every gadget, but they almost certainly don't have a shirt about their specific obsession. The trick is precision: not a generic pizza tee, but the exact hill they'd die on. Garlic bread person, curried egg person, cheese person. The list above is sorted for exactly this.

Is there anything rude in this guide?

Two entries to know about. Fuck Yeah Toast has the swearing mostly bitten off by the toast itself, and the Espresso tee says "then time to shit", which is cheeky rather than harsh. Everything else is safe for any kitchen, café or family lunch. Properly rude lives in the rude collection.

What size should I get? And do the socks have sizes?

Tees are relaxed unisex fits, XS to 5XL. Go with whatever they wear in a normal t-shirt and size up one if they like it oversized. Measurements are on every product page. The socks are one-size and fit most adult feet, which is what makes them the low-risk option here.

Are these adult sizes?

Adult unisex only. Despite the name, Lonely Kids Club is an adult label. The smaller sizes fit most teenagers fine.

How long will it take to arrive?

Everything is printed to order, so leave time for us to make it before it ships. Current production and delivery times are on the shipping page. If it's for a birthday, order earlier than feels necessary. Good things take time, as the sourdough friend keeps saying.

Designed and printed in Sydney since 2011. Original designs, printed to order, and firmly pro garlic bread.