Hosting a food swap is a fun and easy way to trade goods you make with others. Photos courtesy of Jo Ann SantangeloHow to host a food swap:

1. Make (or gather) stuff that’s edible and swappable, i.e. a loaf of bread, a jar of preserves, a half-dozen eggs from your backyard chickens, portions of soup, packages of homemade candy, etc.

2. Find a friend or two that can share the planning and hosting duties. My friend Meg and I formed a team; we called ourselves BKSwappers. Use a unique Twitter hashtag (#yourfoodswap’suniquename) so attendees can connect before and after your events.

Set up your rules as you wish. We decided to keep things simple and only stick with food items that YOU made (not the farmers market jam mistresses, not the local artisan baker, etc.)

3. Invite your pals over (ones you know and maybe haven’t had the pleasure of meeting in real life, yet.) and have a big, long table ready for their swap goods. Having attendees RSVP with their projected swap items will also help you plan your host space accordingly.

4. Arrange for attendees to bring a homemade potluck item so there will be non-swap snacks, and you’re not put out to feed and entertain 20 people. Food people like to bring food to events, trust me. Everyone wants to show off something they took the time to prepare. Adding a potluck feature also opens the event to people who maybe don’t have a swap item, but would like to join in the food fun with a group of like-minded friends.

5. Have tags pre-made so you don’t spend the whole party explaining to people what to write and how the swap works. We cut 3x6” index cards in threes and allowed partiers to fill-in our categories accordingly. Our categories include: What (is the item to be swapped), Who (is the swapper), and Offers listed by Name/Item (Who to talk to and what will be offered in exchange). We leave room for 5 offers, hot items can continue receiving offers on the back of the card.Display tags for items help guests make the swap.6. Designate a time when the swap will take place within the context of the party. Our parties last for about 3 hours, and the swap usually happens at the start of the 3rd hour. This gives guests time to assess the table and make their top picks before being thrown into the pit of chatty swappers vying for delicious goods.

About BKSwappers

Our Brooklyn food swap meets every few months to swap out stuff we’ve stocked in our larder or other homemade goods.

Links to features:

  • Author Leda Meredith attended our first swap and wrote a blog post about it.
  • Brokelyn featured the August 1, 2010 swap here.

The next BKSwappers event is Sunday, August 1, 2010. Email us at bkswappers AT gmail.com to be added to the email list.