Feed mom’s love of cooking

Make her feel special with these Mother’s Day gifts

Buying gifts for Mother’s Day can be fraught. The wrong gift can send a message that is the opposite of the intention — looking at you vacuum cleaner/Peloton/ beer of the month club. It can even turn a day of celebration into a day of apologizing.

Ask yourself: Has mom requested such an item? Specifically? And by specifically, I mean, has she handed you a magazine with the item circled and said, “Please buy this for me for Mother’s Day”? No? Then maybe err on the side of caution when it comes to presents that might accidentally offend. Instead, look for gifts that say: “I know you, I see you, this will enrich and enliven your life.”

Nowhere is the line more razor-thin than when it comes to the foodie mom. These passionate cooks and eaters love a good foodrelated gift, as long as it is the right one. You are walking a tightrope between a mom who is super excited to get this thing that will make her cooking practice more enjoyable and a mom who is insulted that you have implied that what she cooks or how she cooks it could be improved somehow. How to know? Here are basic rules to follow:

Broaden her repertoire:

Do you know that she loves wine, but struggles with feeling confident on how to pair wines with food? Sign her up for a virtual wine tasting or class.

Indulge her with something special:

Whether it’s a really fantastic bottle of Champagne or a trio of plump and pricey Madagascar vanilla beans or a pro-size 32-ounce bottle of vanilla extract or vanilla paste, if there is a luxury mom denies herself, now is the time to get it for her.

Upgrade her equipment:

Do a stealthy inventory of her gear and supplies to see where you can replace items that might be past their prime. Are all of her spatulas stained orange from marinara or are her plastic measuring spoons a bit misshapen from the dishwasher? Replace them.

Replace her spices: Is the

spice cabinet looking dated? For best flavor, bottled spices and herbs should be replaced regularly. Do the task for her. Get her a gift certificate from a place such as The Spice House or Spicewalla.

Keep her sharp:

Take all her knives to have them professionally sharpened. If shops that offer sharpening are closed right now, get her a gift certificate, but with the promise that you’ll complete the task for her.

Solve a problem she complains about:

Is the

Have mom’s knives professionally sharpened. stand mixer too small to accommodate the large batches of batter she wants to make? Upgrade her to the large model. Does she like her mixer but talks about how annoying it is to have to clean out the bowl between the cake batter and the frosting? Get a second bowl. Even small things like hearing her mention how mixing bread dough with her hands dries them out, means that a little $8 Danish dough whisk would be a welcome and thoughtful addition, perhaps with some nice hand lotion to boot.

Connect her to the family:

Buying mom a cookbook you have heard her say she wants is great. Taking all of the family recipes that are written in the spidery handwriting of ancestors, stained and fading on little cards, and typing them into the computer and having it printed up into a usable and readable cookbook is some serious gold-star stuff.

Help her maintain her independence:

If your mom is aging or dealing with health challenges that present obstacles to cooking, can your gift give that back to her? When my mother-in-law began to really suffer from macular degeneration, we took the recipes she liked to make all the time and printed them really large in bold font and put them in a folder so she could see them. You can put larger labels on measuring cups and spoons, to make them easier to read, or search out adaptive tools that can help.

Help connect her to you:

Most moms will just say that the thing they want most is quality time with their kids. That’s hard to do right now, but when it comes to food, it can be easy. Tell mom you want her to teach you how to make her famous — insert your favorite dish here — and schedule some time to make that together, but do it virtually. You can set it up on apps like Skype, Zoom or Google Hangouts.

However you choose to celebrate your mom this year, make it delicious!

AFRICA STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK Help your mom better understand wine with a virtual tasting class.

WILLIAMS SONOMA Upsize mom’s stand mixer with a larger, pro-size model.

MEDIAGIA Clean out and replace mom’s old, stale spices.

BILL HOGAN/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE JOHN VANBEEKUM/ MIAMI HERALD A gift of plump and pricy vanilla beans will be welcomed by a baking mom.

SHUTTERSTOCK Replace mom’s beaten up, stained measuring spoons with a new set.