Word on the Street

Hosting this December? Christmas party food ideas for a hot Australian summer, how much to serve, what to make ahead, and how to spend the party with your guests instead of the oven.

Every year they say they don't need anything, and every year they are nearly right. Here are Christmas gifts for parents and grandparents that get used, enjoyed and remembered.

Most ham glazes are sugar on top of sugar. Davidson plum, a sour native rainforest fruit, cuts through the salt and fat instead. Here's what it is, why it works, and how to make the glaze.

Lemon myrtle, Davidson plum, bunya nut, finger lime. What Australia's native ingredients actually taste like, what to do with them, and why they suit a Christmas that happens in summer.

Italians don't have one Christmas meal, they have several. Christmas Eve is seafood, Christmas Day runs four courses, and panettone sits on the table for a fortnight. Here's how it actually works, and how to bring a little of it to an Australian summer table.

Buying for twenty people whose fridges, diets and Christmas plans you know nothing about? Here is what actually lands well with staff and clients, and the one gift that fits everyone on the list.

The best hampers are mostly food, and food the person will genuinely finish. Here's what to put in a Christmas hamper, what to leave out, and how to build one that doesn't end up in the back of a cupboard.

The ham is the one thing on the Australian Christmas table nobody argues about, and the one thing people are quietly least confident about. How to choose it, glaze it, cook it, carve it without hacking it about, keep it fresh for a fortnight, and use every last bit.

Hosting at Christmas is an act of love, and also a fortnight of shopping, prepping and cooking. Here's how Christmas catering across Australia lets you hand over the hard part and keep the day that's actually yours, with meals handmade by local home cooks and delivered freshly frozen, ready when you are.

The best food gift is one that gets used on a night nobody feels like cooking. Christmas hamper ideas for Australia, for new parents, for the person who has everything, and for the office list you've been putting off.