Gourmet Food Hamper
There is sometimes confusion when one hears the term, Gourmet Food Hamper. How is this different than a gourmet food basket?
The truth is that the gourmet food hamper differs really very little from the gourmet food basket. In the United Kingdom, the word hamper generally means a large wicker basket. It is mostly used for the transport of food. In the United States, we would consider a hamper as more of a place to throw dirty laundry prior to wash day. So, it is easy to see the confusion of Americans when they hear the term applied to gourmet food. The definition of gourmet food, they think, has been hard to pin down, but surely does not include dirty socks.
So, when you see an advertisement for a gourmet food hamper, you might very well be looking at a firm located in the United Kingdom. This is not a bad thing. We live in a new global economy and gourmet food hampers from England do not really differ a lot from gourmet food baskets from California. They still contain mostly packaged and sealed foods that can survive the wait from time of purchase to time of gift giving. Therefore, they can also easily survive the trip from England to New York.
It is true that hampers are generally larger than baskets as we know them in the United States, but the size varies. Do not assume you are getting a lot more when ordering a gourmet food hamper. You still need to look at the measures and sizes of what you order to make a proper comparison. Of course, if you talk to some people, mostly Englishmen, you will get the impression that the gourmet food hamper from the UK has a better quality of product. This, you might be told, is because the English have been around a lot longer and have a higher sense of just what gourmet food really is. This idea is somewhat debatable. The truth is that one man's gourmet food is another man's meat and potatoes.
Still, gourmet food hampers provide that same wonderful variety of their American cousins. It does not matter what you are looking for from cheese to coffee or from fine wines to olive oil, someone is going to be willing to package it nicely in a hamper and make sure it gets to your doorstep. A food is not going to pass the ultimate test and be declared a true gourmet food until it has passed the all important taste test. So, if you are really, really fond of someone, a gourmet food hamper might be an ideal gift.
We are lucky that no law has been passed yet restricting gourmet gift baskets or gourmet food hampers to only gift purposes. We can always just buy them for ourselves. If we do that, we are sure to get just what we want and there is little chance of waste or disappointment. In addition, we most likely are in need of a little pampering and deserve a gift. Do not wait for the next guy to send you one, order a gourmet food hamper full of just what you like and spoil yourself. Just remember, if it is a hamper and not a basket, you need to be real sure of the shipping rate if you happen to live in Kansas. It is going to be more than likely that it will be coming a long way.