Not too long ago, “gourmet” was synonymous with “imported”. With international shipping curtailed through the lockdown, India’s gourmands might have felt the absence of fancy ingredients. But, thanks to the arrival of hipster entrepreneurship in India, many producers have adopted organic, family-owned, delivery-driven models and adapted them with a swadeshi flair, giving gastronomes in metros access to a range of homegrown gourmet ingredients and staples.

The holy triumvirate of caffeine, carbs and cheese are at the forefront of these offerings.

Let’s start with coffee. Brands like Araku, Bili Hu, Black Baza, Blue Tokai, Devan’s and Koinonia are available online, with the last also selling cheese, snacks, chocolate and tonic by other companies. This kind of platform-sharing collaboration is on the rise, with vegetable growers expanding into general grocery, and coffee roasters selling bread.

Budding bakers can check out Urban Platter for yeast (and lots more), and TWF for fancy flour. If baking is not your thing, there are plenty of great bread suppliers, Milk Patisserie, Suchali’s Bakehouse, The Flourists, and Bombay Food Company.

Next up is cheese.Everything from burrata to yak cheese is available online from companies like Spotted Cow and Eleftheria in Mumbai, Begum Victoria in Bengaluru, Flanders Dairy in Delhi, ABC in Pune, Darima in Uttarakhand and La Ferme and Kodai Cheese in Tamil Nadu. Charcuterie is a bit more elusive, but brands like Artisan Meats, Kaavo, Licious, Fresh2Home and Meatigo offer a satisfying range.

In Bombay, Scootsy has a separate gourmet section with things like dry staples from Conscious Foods and oils from Cold Food Company. For incorrigible epicures, it has La Rustichella, specialising in all things truffled. Organic produce suppliers, The Farmer, Go Farmz, Kisano, Krishi Cress, Nature’s Soul, Prodigal Farms, Sahyadri, Zama Organics, and 21 Organic, have also mushroomed.

Finally, as restaurants pivot to delivery, prepped ingredients are the name of the game. In Delhi, Fig & Maple has a line of “Signatures”, Parsi restaurant Rustom’s is marketing its masalas, Caara its meal boxes, and Aku’s has DIY burger kits. There are even bars doing batches of cocktails in barrels. But you’ve got to know a guy.