Welcome to The 12 Days of Artmas, our new, non-denominational holiday extravaganza—an advent calendar with gift ideas and stories for art lovers of all stripes, dropping daily through December 24.
It wouldn’t be the holidays without yummy things to eat and drink—and it wouldn’t be Artmas without art. Here are some of our favorite, most artful gastronomic gifts.
Noma Project 001 Sauces With David Shrigley Label Art
Mushroom garums fermenting at Noma. Photo: Ditte Isager.
Noma, Copenhagen’s three Michelin–star bastion of new Nordic cuisine, recently introduced Noma Projects to address issues that are important to chef René Redzepi and his team. The first release is a line of house-made, small-batch garums: umami-rich sauces, inspired by a 1,000-year-old culinary tradition, that add flavor to the restaurant’s vegetarian and vegan dishes. Two ferments are currently brewing—smoked mushroom, and sweet rice and egg—in bottles featuring label art by David Shrigley. Either (or both!) are perfect for anyone looking to go plant-based (it’s good for the environment!).
Price: $20–$35, available to preorder here.
Takashi Murakami–Designed Pancake Pan
A Takashi Murakami pancake pan. Courtesy of NTWRK.
Takashi Murakami is everywhere. The artist, a market sensation and popular icon, is famous for his Superflat reinventions of traditional Japanese paintings that reflect on otaku culture and kitsch. (He also often collaborates with the likes of Louis Vuitton.) Now, you can even find his works in your kitchen: For the NTWRK app, Murakami has created a cast-iron pan that makes pancakes in the shape of his famous smiling flower.
Price: $40, available here.
Macallan Estate’s “Anecdotes of Ages” Collection
Peter Blake’s “An Estate, A Community, and A Distillery” design for Macallan Whisky. Photo: Mary McCartney; courtesy of Macallan Whisky.
British Pop artist Sir Peter Blake has collaborated with the Macallan distillery in the village of Craigellachie in Scotland on a collection of single-malt Scotch whiskies. You already know Blake from the cover art he made for The Beatles’s 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Now, he has now designed 13 original bottle labels, each inspired by a visit to the Macallan estate, in his distinctive collage style. Macallan auctioned off a one-of-a-kind bottle of 1967 whisky featuring one of the designs at Sotheby’s back in March. It fetched a whopping $437,500 to benefit new diversity, equity, access, and inclusion initiatives at New York’s Guggenheim Museum. But you can still get a bottle of scotch featuring notes of treacle and black pepper, alongside Blake’s designs, for a comparatively affordable $2,500.
Price: $2,500–$2,999, available here.
Horror Caviar: a Cookbook From A24
Horror Caviar. Courtesy of A24.
The publishing division of A24, the film and television production company best known for visually compelling horror films such as Midsommar and Hereditary, has released its first cookbook, featuring recipes and essays inspired by deliciously gory scenes from 29 major films. A number of artists and art writers, including Phillys Ma, Stephanie LaCava, Lexie Smith, and Laila Gohar, have contributed to the tome, which includes seductive photographs by Justin J Wee, and recipes for dishes such as bone and pork dumplings with black angel hair pasta, inspired by Takshi Miike’s 1999 thriller Audition).
Price: $65, available here.
Arty Parties: An Entertaining Cookbook by Julia Sherman
Arty Parties. Courtesy of Abrams Books.
“Artists throw superior parties,” touts the blurb for Julia Sherman’s new-ish book Arty Parties, which is choc-full of easy-to-follow recipes and party-throwing tips. Her advice? Soirées are not about the perfect environment or menu, but about “getting your hands dirty, building community, and taking risks in the kitchen and beyond.” Featuring contributions by renowned artists such as Tom Sachs, Lauren Halsey, and Jordan Casteel, Sherman pairs easy-to-follow recipes for dishes like saffron tomato soup with advice that makes hosting approachable. “The [dining] table is a construct.” “Don’t put the food under a microscope.” “Optimize [meals] for leftovers.” The book also includes fun photographs of actual art-world bashes, including shots from artist-architect Hayden Hugh’s In Tension, a birthday party/performance in which he invited guests to dinner at White Cube gallery and made them the chief actors.
Price: $29.16, available here.
Previous stories in this series:
Give Your Loved One Their Very Own Louvre Masterpiece, Courtesy of Samsung’s The Frame TV
The Best Gifts Art-World Insiders Have Ever Given, From an Old Master Painting to a Zanzibarian Key
Who Couldn’t Use Gift Guidance From the Cosmos? We’ve Consulted 5 Experts in Art and Astrology
For Travelers, Consider Virgil Abloh-Designed Luggage That Reimagines Louis Vuitton’s Legacy
On the First Day of Artmas, My True Love Gave to Me… a Step-by-Step Guide for Gifting an NFT