Online food shop with a difference opens in time for Christmas deliveries

Jonathan McDowell and Maggie Bateson are a married couple who have set up Indie Fude, an independent online food store selling a really well chosen and original selection of Irish artisan food products. The shop opened last week, and orders for delivery before Christmas can be placed up until next Monday, December 22nd.

It will soon be possible to fill your own virtual shopping basket from the 250 products they have on offer, but for Christmas they are offering an extensive selection of hampers on various themes.

There's a giant Santa's Jumbo Sack (£95/€100), full of seasonal favourites and a copy of Darina Allen's Simply Delicious Christmas. The witty Bitter 'n' Twisted (£50/€65), is packed with citrus flavours including lemon and parsnip cordial; ginger and mango milk chocolate bar; lemon drizzle cake mix; lime and tequila marmalade; spiced rum and lemon marmalade; lemon pepper infused sea salt; sour cherry chilli jelly; honey and sour cherries; lemon oil; lemon polenta biscuits, and blackberry balsamic vinegar.

Or you can sign up for one of three subscriptions – Food Critic (Great Taste and Blas na hÉireann award winning products); New Indie Foods (their latest discoveries), or Indie Snacks and Treats (chocolates, sweets and snacks) – which will see a delivery arrive on the recipient’s doorstep every month for a set period of time.

The first month’s Food Critic hamper, for example, contains country butter fudge; fig relish, sea salted caramel with fennel pollen; garden herb infused rapeseed oil; sour cherry chilli jelly; maple, fruit and nut granola; Terry’s Chocolate Orange marmalade, and blackberry balsamic vinegar. A different selection of goods, to the same value, will follow on two subsequent months and the total cost is £135/€165. Longer subscriptions are also available, and all hampers are delivered free of charge throughout Ireland until Christmas.

McDowell, an account and and former aid worker with VSO and Goal in the South Pacific and West Africa, has spent two years bringing his idea to the market, and Bateson, a civil servant, helps out part time. Each item comes wrapped in corrugated cardboard and sealed with decorative tape, and every order includes a free Eco tote bag. See indiefude.com