That’s what I tend to do for my parents lately.
The last couple years I’ve bought a nice canned duck cassoulet from Quebec, some local Cdn smoked fish , and some pantry items from a Greek market in TO.
My favourite butcher makes a nice dried fruit and meat terrine, that I purchase on the 24th.
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@Phoenikia, would you please add me to your gift list soonest? 
Familiar with all your Greek goodies, except for the Cretan style diples. I imagine they’re beautiful! We served regular ones at our wedding, among lots of other Greek pastries. Do you make any other Cretan foods? I love the savory/savoury Cretan half moon pastries, filled with cheese. Can’t remember the Greek name right now.
Will post pictures of pastry production from last year, in part to gear up for this year, as the baking begins tomorrow. Plan to post a pictorial of trahana making too, but will put it on the Greek cooking thread. It would make an excellent addition to a Greek food basket, especially for those who know and love it, as well as any foodie who’d enjoy trying it.
Does Toronto have a large Greek population?
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Food gift possibilities for celiacs would be coconut macaroons, spiced nuts, vanilla or chocolate walnut fudge, nut brittles, in fact lots of candy is GF. (All pretty easy to make, if so inclined).
Haven’t done much GF baking, but have purchased shortbreads, vanilla type wafers, and small cookies from well stocked supermarkets and specialty stores. There’s a dedicated gluten free bakery I’ve used that has excellent products, but I’ve found these items get hard and stale fast, so would either gift or freeze ASAP. If your GF friends or family like to bake, there are great flour mixes, such as Bob’s Red Mill GF mix, which could be accompanied by some premium chocolate bits, dried fruit and nuts. Specialty potato chips, corn chips, popcorn and cheeses too, along with jarred salsas or fresh, most dips ok too. Hope this helps. Oh and I’ve tried and enjoyed many different types of GF crackers, which are excellent.
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Yes, Toronto has a big Greek population. There is a Greektown that stretches a couple dozen blocks, that had been even bigger before people moved to the burbs. Most people seem to have Peloponnesian or northern Greek (esp Epiros and Makedonia) backgrounds in TO.
My Greek family originates from the northeast Aegean (Lesvos), but some of our family recipes came from Cretan family friends who lived in the Bay area.
We don’t do too many other Cretan specialties, at home. I do have a Cretan cookbook, and I remember Cretan cheese bourekas in Crete that were distinct from tyropitas. I also have some cookbooks with recipes for Cypriot cheese pies.
The main Greek savoury dishes we make during the winter holidays are meat and rice dolmades with avgolemono sauce and spanakopita (a tall version, including eggs, that contains 3 to 4 inches of spinach/endive/dill/egg/feta filling).
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My pate de campagne is made, sliced and in the freezer. It’s a present to myself. And I’ve had a nibble and it’s absolutely bloody delicious!
I tried a Nigel Slater recipe last year for one that included fruit. Really nice but I’ve gone back to what I regard as my traditional one (I’ve certainly made it for most of the last ten years or so)
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I’m here in the 
heart of Harry & David land. A mixed blessing, to be sure.
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You’re very welcome @Phoenikia!
My husband is the Greek one in the family, well, besides the kids that is. His father’s family came from Lemnos, and his mother’s side hail from Vasilitsi, about 30 minutes from Kalamata, which is on the Pelopennesian Peninsula, (for those who might not know).
Your food sounds delicious, and I’m intrigued by your version of spanakopita. We make those type things for holidays and special occasions too. We grow some heritage Concord grapes, so I harvest and brine or blanch my own leaves. Freeze, rather than can them. The fresh ones are great for cheese platters. So happy I married into a Greek family! 
my food heritage on both sides was dull and boring, to say the least.
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@Lambchop I will post a photo of any Greek stuff we make 
Lots of delicious things in the Greek kitchen, that is for sure.
One of my parents is of Greek extraction, and the other is from the Prairies, my Godparents are Italian , and our closest family friends were an English Anglican( Geordie to be precise @Harters )/Romanian Jewish family, and some Ontario Anglo families, so we have a mishmash of traditions.
Our typical Xmas dinner is roast goose or duck with stuffing, cranberry sauce, spanakopita, cauliflower cheese , roast potatoes. Plum pudding (a gift from an Anglo Ontarian friend) with hard sauce for dessert. We’ve always got at least one panettone , one stollen and a fruitcake on hand.
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Those Harry & David pears have led to me making the ByRite Market pear upside down cake, and Ottolenghi’s saffron and white wine poached pears
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Yes, you sure are! Love looking at their catalogs. We were gifted a box of their pears a few years ago, and sadly, every last pear was not good. Not rotten, but maybe picked at the wrong stage, or stored improperly. Am sure it was an extremely rare fluke, and I should have called H&D’s. Did send a lovely thank you note to the gifters, however. Anyway, Oregon is a bountiful state, food wise, as is Washington.
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Last year’s Greek pastry production. We’re starting on the baklava tomorrow. I should say, part of the production.
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@Lambchop too bad! Our pears and apples from H&D have always arrived super juicy and perfect, all the way to Canada. But that was probably 7 years ago now.
Last year’s canning. Mostly jams, jellies and syrups for gifting (mostly berry types) as well as tomatoes, Greek and Italian style sauces, as well as some Turkish flavored. Forgot to count the jars.
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For Lambchop and Prima (and anyone else, of course) here’s the pate recipe.
For a Briton of my generation any longterm successful recipe is pretty much certain to have originated with Delia Smith.
And, for contrast, here’s the Nigel Slater recipe I did last year. The combination of cranberries and dried apricots really works.
Either would work as a food gift, IMO. Just pack it into the container of your choice (it’ll be crumblier than if you keep it in the terrine shape and press it down overnight). Make sure your recipient knows to (a) keep it in the fridge and (b) eats it within a few days.
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Thanks very much @Harters, might not get to it until after x-mas, but before New Year’s - will let you know how it turns out.
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