Cate Devine

Every so often the world of food proves it can deliver. In the case of the Scottish food scene, and in particular the Outer Hebrides, such proof comes in the neat little package of a delightful young entrepreneur who, against the odds, has this week launched the world's first online delivery service of Hebridean beef and lamb - unique products, given that they are bred on some of the world's most unusual pastures. Pastures which are shoreline species-rich machair grasslands, seaweed for winter grazing and heather for summer grazing. Basically the rarest, most sustainable, natural and mineral-rich eco-systems you can get.

Douglas Stewart, 24, a lobster fisherman's son from North Uist, has already proved he can cut it. Last year the agriculture and business degree graduate launched his own company, The Hebridean Food Co., selling fresh lobster, langoustines and crab from the waters around his home online and at food fairs up and down the UK. The BBC Good Food Shows in Birmingham and London have been particularly lucrative, though he's delighted to note that Glaswegians also took to his fresh shellfish at the Merchant City food festival during the Commonwealth Games last summer; and that the Scottish Game Fair was also a high point.

In his first year he sold more than double what he had forecast and hopes to double sales again this year. Now, buoyed by his success, he's looking to the land as well, and this year is adding pedigree Highland beef (from cattle with black, blonde, and silver hair as well as the more familiar ginger) and Blackface lamb from farmer Angus Macdonald on the remote island of Vallay, North Uist. He plans to add wild venison from the Leveson-Gower estate in North Uist to his portfolio in September.

The thing is, islanders may already know and appreciate the unique flavour of their local meat, as they can get it at source or from their community co-operative shop. But what young Douglas is setting out to do with this new venture is to give a taste of rare Hebridean beef and lamb to the outside world for the first time. (I can vouch for the unique rich, gamey flavour and soft, loose texture of the beef.)

He says his motivation is to draw attention to the fabulous produce of the Outer Hebrides and to help grow the local economy, adding that his ultimate dream is to establish a production facility and farm shop in North Uist. His dissertation as a final year degree student at the SRUC (Scotland's Rural University College) in Edinburgh was entitled A Feasibility Study in Establishing a Farm Shop in the Hebrides.

It's admirable that, armed only with £10,000 grant aid from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, he's got this far. Even more so, given the challenges of running a fresh food business from such a remote spot. Entrepreneurs in the Hebrides, and the Outer Hebrides in particular, are reliant on CalMac ferries or Loganair/Flybe's planes to shift their wares to the mainland and beyond. The transport operators in turn are dependent on the vagaries of the weather: ferries and flights can be cancelled or diverted at a moment's notice if the conditions become too hazardous.

Delivering seafood to customers by post is cheaper than sending meat, because it is lighter. But I understand the Royal Mail is prohibitively expensive; so private couriers can be an option. Douglas is lucky: he has neighbours who run a haulage company and will take his beef and lamb to Glasgow Airport for him - using the ferry from Lochmaddy to Uig on Skye (one or two ferries daily in the summer on alternative weekdays). From Glasgow Airport a private courier will do the rest - though prices rocket for weekend delivery.

Though the private abattoir in Lochmaddy slaughters the animals it doesn't yet, as I understand it, have a production facility. This means Douglas has the additional cost (in terms of time as well as cash) of travelling to the abattoir in Dingwall to have his beef hung for four weeks and his lamb for two weeks, and butchered.

Douglas - and no doubt others like him - would dearly like to see a proper meat production facility in the Outer Hebrides. At the moment he's wisely sticking with traditional top cuts like Chateaubriand, cote de beouf, fillet and ribeye to serve the high end of the market, but would in future like to be able to experiment with "forgotten" or more experimental cuts like featherblade and skirt.

And if demand for Hebridean Highland beef outstrips supply, he would look into other breeds like Belted Galloways and Luing from other farms on North Uist and the Outer Hebrides.

Given that the Scotch brand is so much in demand, and that rare Hebridean beef and lamb will doubtless take off now that it's been officially launched onto the web, it will be fascinating to see how things develop.

As we mainlanders would like to be able to say, Ith gu leòir.