Philly Food Swap

This past week a group of thirty or so food lovers and home cooks gathered together in the basement hall of the First Unitarian Church in Center City to exchange homemade foods at Philly's first food swap.

With a hyper awareness of where our food comes from, home cooking arts like canning, baking, and gardening have become hot topics that bind many like-minded home cooks. Besides reading blog posts about garden harvests and delicious kitchen adventures, there really hasn't been a way to share in each other's creations.

That's where the idea of "food swaps" comes in. A food swap is typically a small event where people get together to socialize, but, most importantly, to swap homegrown or homemade foods.

Other cities like Brooklyn and Portland have already established a strong food swap community, and it was only a matter of time before Philly got their own food swap.

Thanks to the organization of Georgia, Marisa, Alexis, and Amanda, Philly's own food swap group, Philly Swappers, was formed earlier this year. Philly Swappers aims to hold food swap events a few times a year to bring together like-minded food lovers and food crafters. The best way to find out about upcoming events is to "like" Philly Swappers on Facebook. How does a food swap work?

Events usually last no more than a couple of hours. The first 30 minutes involve checking in, getting name tags, setting up your wares on tables, and filling out swap cards on the items you brought. The next 30 minutes involve making your way around the room to see and sample what other swappers are offering, making bids on items, and socializing.

In the second hour, swaps are made "freestyle." You look at the bid sheets of the items you brought to see if you would like to swap with anyone who made you an offer. You are not bound to swap with those who made you an offer, though, and can politely decline. The whole process of swapping is a sort of controlled chaos (bid sheets give you a bit of direction, but swapping can be fast). Somehow, it works out in the end.

To get a better idea of how a swap works, this video is a good introduction.I must say, as a first time food swapper, I was beyond curious as to what people would bring and how the actual swapping would work.

I brought canned jams, fruit butters, relishes, and chutneys I made this summer, as well as herbs I grew and dried to swap. There were lots of canned goods in the house! Above are an assortment of jams from Marisa. Providing samples is encouraged, although not required. Above are samples of peach salsa and habanero jelly from Lee.Baked goods also made appearances. The above chocolate peanut butter cookies and quiches from Corey and Jason, as well as pop tarts, plum bites, and pumpkin bread from others are just a few baked goods that I can recall off the top of my head.At the end of the night, I ended up with about half of the items I had my eye on. The other items that ended up in my basket I gladly swapped for (I pretty much like all foods, so was in good company and surroundings).

My take home haul for the evening included sauerkraut, horseradish vodka, vanilla sugar, cherry fig chutney, peach chutney, pear vanilla jam, tomato jam, chocolate peanut butter cookies, black tea blend with spiced simple syrup, molasses cookies, granola, and hot buttered rum batter.

The best way to describe a food swap event is to compare it to a Christmas gift exchange, except you come home with gifts that you actually appreciate and can use. I can't wait for the next one, and am already dreaming about what I am going to make!

Other resources on food swaps:
Rules For Effective Food Swapping. Food swapping etiquette.
How To Host A Food Swap. A how-to, plus directory of food swap groups in the US and Canada.