Send Me Food!

October 6, 2023 6:47 AM

I need your suggestions on fun places in the USA where I can order occasional online shipments of regional food treats.

Places like Dakin Farm in Vermont or Ole Salty's or candy stores like Schimpff's .

It doesn't have to be small; I know about Zingerman's and Zabar's and love both. I am not looking for subscription services or a conglomerate website like Goldbelly. Just fun places with yummy food where I can order online to be shipped within the US. All types of food/produce/candy/crunchy snacks - anything you've liked and recommend.

I saw this question from 2020 and got some good ideas from it.

Thanks for your ideas!

posted by Kangaroo to Food & Drink (23 answers total)

Best answer: Here in Nashville we have a couple of places that have been around forever and ship stuff:

The Lovelace Cafe
Goo Goo Clusters
posted by dawkins_7 at 7:24 AM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: graeters ice cream in Cincinnati!
posted by quiet wanderer at 7:34 AM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: TasteNY has a clunky site but good customer service and a selection of items from smaller producers.
posted by wintersweet at 7:57 AM on October 6, 2023

Best answer: Lofty Pursuits! They're a fancy hard-candy company in Florida; they also have a really fun Youtube channel talking about how they do what they do, and we've had a couple FPPs about them.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:15 AM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: They aren't all food, but you may find this piece on Black-owned vegan businesses that ship nationwide helpful. I have ordered from Southern Roots Bakery on that list. Because of the article, they were flooded with orders, so they were very slow at the time, but when my order did eventually arrive, it was excellent.
posted by FencingGal at 8:20 AM on October 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Rancho Gordo is known for its bean club, but you don't have to be a member to order from them. You can just buy wonderful heirloom beans. And hominy. And chiles and sauces and a ton of other stuff too.
posted by FencingGal at 8:33 AM on October 6, 2023 [6 favorites]

Best answer: OH MY GOD YES SECONDING RANCHO GORDO
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:36 AM on October 6, 2023

Best answer: Southern Candy Makers

Tortues for the win!! soo yummy. They have pralines and all kinds of gift boxes and stuff, but the tortues are my favorite, caramal sea salt preferably.
posted by domino at 8:52 AM on October 6, 2023

Best answer: the vermont country store
posted by brujita at 8:57 AM on October 6, 2023

Best answer: I typically buy food gifts for my family in the US.

Frog Hollow Farms sells fruit and various baked goods from California.

There's a bunch of orange groves in Florida that primarily sell citrus fruits, but also treats as well. I've previously ordered from Hale Groves and Hollieeanna Groves and the recipients seem to like it.

Liberty Orchard's is a relatively well-known company in Washington, known for their aplets and cotlets. My family and I were recently gifted chocolate covered Rainier cherries from Chukar Cherries.

Lastly, it's not really regional food or snacks, but they're good food nonetheless. Xi'an famous foods is a pretty well known Chinese (Xi'an) restaurant in Flushing, NY that also sells Chinese dumpling and noodle kits online. There is also Cali dumpling that focuses on dumplings.
posted by comradechu at 9:00 AM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Chicago's Eli's cheesecake now ships nationwide.

(I have very fond memories of my mother picking up their factory seconds in the 80s and 90s and eating cheesecake while playing Trivial Pursuit. I think that they were mostly seconds because they weren't sliced correctly.)
posted by FencingGal at 9:03 AM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Rincon Tropics: California-based; tropical fruits

Lagusta's Luscious New York-based; vegan chocolates

Craftsman and Wolves: California-based; jams and other spreads, candies, cookies, and coffee

Calabash Tea & Tonic: Washington, DC-based; teas, tonics, spices/ seasonings

Capital City mambo sauce: based near Washington, DC; delicious hot & wing sauces

Pistachioland: New Mexico-based; all things (you guessed it) pistachio

Monroe's: New Mexico-based; red and green chiles, salsas, and honeys
posted by wicked_sassy at 9:16 AM on October 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Humble House of San Antonio is a favorite in my family for flavorful hot sauces (but not too hot!).

Native Seeds is an organization that does a variety of things, including preserving heirloom peppers and other plants of the Southwest. Check the "Sonoran Pantry" area of their site where they have food items for sale. I've bought chili powder from them before and liked it.
posted by gimonca at 9:24 AM on October 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Malnati's Pizza ships frozen pizzas nationally. They're remarkably good, and I think Malnati's is the best Chicago-style pizza.
posted by theotherdurassister at 10:02 AM on October 6, 2023

Best answer: Usinger’s Famous Sausage, a family-owned sausage joint in Milwaukee that’s been around for something like a hundred years. They have a large selection of gift boxes as well as you can order directly from the deli, with both prepackaged and sliced to order options (minimum 6 pounds to ship, but it’s very easy to hit that and the unsliced, unopened stuff lasts for. ev. er. even in the fridge).

Garrett’s Popcorn in Chicago, another family-owned place, who now also owns Frango Chocolates.

This place is in no way small, but Albanese Candy makes the World’s Best Gummies™, which a lot of people know, plus killer chocolates, which a lot of people don’t because I believe they only sell them in their two factory stores in Indiana plus online. Their sea salt peanut butter melts are *chef’s kiss*.

I second Graeter’s!
posted by tubedogg at 10:15 AM on October 6, 2023

Best answer: Eltee's Goods (jams, cookies, brownies), De L'or Cakery, Prima Pizza (ships overnight), Junior's Cheesecake, Yonah Schimmel Knishes [NY]
Pietrzyk Pierogi [Detroit, MI]
Murdick's Fudge (& saltwater taffy) [Mackinac Island, MI]
Pierogies Plus and S&D Polish Deli [Pittsburgh, PA]
Old Danish Fudge Kitchen (also butter cookies, peanut brittle, taffy) [Solvang, CA]
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:48 AM on October 6, 2023

Best answer: Derby Pie, from Kern's Kitchen in Louisville. It's a chocolate-walnut pie. Free shipping on orders of $50 or more, so buy two.
posted by madcaptenor at 12:22 PM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Charles Chips!

Back in the day, Charles Chips was a home delivery service in the Northeast (maybe elsewhere?). When I was a kid, the Charles Chip truck would come by once a week and we'd get potato chips and pretzels.

The chips were good, but it was the tin can and old school logo that made these iconic. They went out of business a while back but were revived as mail order at some point.
posted by jeremias at 3:02 PM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Shop Made in DC. If you want a DC-specific food, get some Mumbo Sauce!
posted by decathecting at 4:17 PM on October 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Pearson's Georgia Peaches and Pecans (in season) Get them while they're still a thing--Both items are suddenly in limited supply due to the destruction of a lot of pecan trees by recent hurricanes and the lack of sufficient cold days in winter for good peach growth (and this year, a very warm February followed by a late March freeze).
posted by hydropsyche at 4:25 PM on October 6, 2023

Seconding Usingers for phenomenal sausage and Frog Hollow Farms for organic fruit, and thirding Rancho Gordo for heirloom bean varitieties. I also wanted to add Nueske's for incredible smoked bacon and sausage. While not food exactly, Penzey's Spices is pretty great, whether for stocking your own pantry or buying someone a gift box. For sweet gifts, I always go with Niemann's Candies, which is a 100 year-old family business in Milwaukee where everything is still handmade. The almond toffee and fairy food are incredible, and there are excellent seasonal specialities, like hand-twisted candy canes at Christmas and marshmallow stuffed chocolate easter eggs. The above collection pretty much covers all of my mail order gifting.
posted by amusebuche at 8:38 PM on October 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

Just remembered Brooklyn Tea. They actually started as an online-only shop, but then opened up a storefront and cafe in Brooklyn, and have been doing so well they now have a second cafe in Atlanta.

(They're delightful - I discovered them online right before they were opening up the shop, and wrote them because their web site was unclear as to the hours - they wrote back explaining they were just about to open, and confirmed they would be there at the time I planned to show up. And then when I got there, the three people on staff all greeted me like a long-lost relative, because my email had reassured everyone that "yay, we'll get at least ONE customer on our first day!")
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:43 AM on October 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Poppy popcorn
posted by knile at 7:43 PM on October 8, 2023