Taste of a Nation

Cowgirl Creamery Cheese.

Cowgirl Creamery Cheeses
A trio of prizewinning triple-cream and herb-crusted artisanal cheeses crafted from Marin County milk ($55, cowgirlcreamery.com).

Buy it online







June Taylor Christmas Cake

Christmas Cake (a.k.a. fruitcake)
One delicious bite and sinister thoughts of regifting this fruitcake will turn to ones of selfish hoarding ($32, junetaylorjams.com).

Buy it online







Lou Malnati Pizza

Lou Malnati’s Pizza
Call it sacrilege, but there’s something to be said for the thinner-than-expected Chicago crust and the sauce-over-cheese subversion ($35.95, deepdishpizza.com).

Buy it online







Blenheim Ginger Ale

Blenheim Ginger Ale-Hot
This stuff comes from a century-old South Carolina recipe that walks the line—gingerly—between pleasure and pain ($28.99 for two dozen, beveragesdirect.com).

Buy it online







Spoonbill Caviar

Spoonbill Caviar
Who needs Iranian sturgeon when we’ve got these prehistoric Tennessee fish and their creamy, briny, sevruga-like roe ($40 for two ounces, browne-trading.com)?

Buy it online







Graffeo Coffee

Graffeo Coffee
A minimum of choice (dark roast, light roast, decaf) and a maximum of spectacularly rich, full-bodied flavor ($11.50 per pound, graffeo.com).

Buy it online







Sticky Toffee Pudding in Holiday Food

Sticky Toffee Pudding
This heat-and-eat date-flavored cake comes with a jar of toffee sauce that lives up to its finger-lickingly sticky name ($15, stickytoffeepudding.com).

Buy it online







Sourcream Coffeecake in Holiday Food

Sourcream Coffeecake
There is no better incentive to wake up than this ultrarich, cinnamon-swirled cake, riddled with walnuts and packed in a nifty wooden crate ($45, zingermans.com).

Buy it online







Vermont Maple Syrup in Holiday Food

Vermont Maple Syrup
What passes for “syrup” on supermarket shelves is a travesty. Your pancakes and French toast deserve better ($9.50 for sixteen ounces, deepmountainmaple.com).

Buy it online







Photographs by Kenneth Chen; Lou Malnati’s pizza photograph courtesy of Lou Malnati’s.

Taste of a Nation